Our Las Vegas Trade Show was interesting to say the least. We stayed and did our show at Mandalay Bay. Our first room was not that great for the amount of money we spent so my sister called the front desk and told them that she just “couldn’t see herself actually sleeping in the lumpy beds”. They put her on hold and came back on to tell that we had been upgraded to their “gold wing” in a 2 room suite. We about peed our pants when we actually got to our new room. It was at the end of the hallway with big double doors. It had a bar, dining room, living room, and two full suite rooms. We have never stayed in something so nice before. The first room service order that came up he asked if we wanted it set up on the table, so we started moving our stuff. Then he grabbed a cloth tablecloth and tried to actually “set up” our dinner. My sister said “whoa, we aren’t that fancy, I thought you meant if we were going to just eat at the table”…..he ended up setting up his little push cart to form a table and we were still awed that he set everything up. The next morning when our breakfast came I didn’t realize that the Japanese style doors were see through (I couldn’t see through them!) and ended up talking to the guy the entire time with my head poked around like I was hidden in my bra and underwear but it was actually like some sort of burlesque show. I have to wonder if there was any talk about the hillbillies up in the suite!

As to peddling our wares I think we did pretty well. We picked this show because it was smaller and we had no idea what we were doing so thought we would get our feet wet. We didn’t place any orders so that was disappointing but we did make a couple of good contacts. We shall see if they pan out but we talked with a Gaiam buyer and a buyer from TheKnot.com, both are pretty big companies. The only reservations that they had were that we couldn’t keep up with demand but we assured them that we could! We are trying to work with them now. I hope we don’t seem like hillbillies to them!

Our plane carrying us back from the trade show arrived at 12:05 last night and we finally were able to sleep in our own beds, although it had really only been two nights away. My older girls and husband left this morning at 5 am to go to a goat conference two hours away so I really haven’t been about to see any of them yet. The 2yr old woke me up bright and early so I am certainly feeling the burn today.

I had to take care of the lambs and goats this morning and I have to wonder if any of my kids will question why we make our lives so dirty and hard. It has been raining non stop for days and the short cut hill down to the goats/lambs was impassable so I had to go all the way around and back up. Once I got up there I realized that I had used the screw cap calf bottle instead of the lamb bottle. How did I finally figure this out? I lost the entire bottle on the ground when I tried to put it into the feeder and the nipple came off. Lovely, I had to walk back up and get a new bottle. Once I got back up the 2yr old decided she would HAVE to come with me, lovely. So off we go again with now two bottles (I wasn’t doing this again!). Luckily the 2yr old had a wonderful time petting the lambs while they ate and I fed the goats. Unfortunately the goats didn’t have any hay or alfalfa in the barn so I had to go down to the big barn to get it, lovely. It’s raining huge fat cold heavy rain and of course I wore the jacket without a hood, spectacular. I finally get the entire hay wheel barrowed up and everyone fed. I notice that one of the dairy goats looks a little stressed so I decide to lock in my three dairies for good measure because the weather is so nasty and I’ve got three pet, bully, goats and I didn’t want to have to worry about the smaller dairies finding a dry space in the barn. This is great, except that I will now need to go BACK down to the big barn to fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water and haul that back up, lovely. The 2yr old and I finally got everything done and trudged back up home. I took a quick shower (to screams of BATH BATH BATH) and then she took a long bath. After wood was brought in and the fire was stoked and we were settled, I just had to wonder why it is I actually prefer to live this way.

I am going to write about our trade show tomorrow, it was fairly eventful, but just had to write about my wet rainy cold experience from this morning.

We got some exciting things around the homestead lately. A friend finished putting together our Onan generator. We had it mounted on a trailer so that we can use it in case of a power outage or as a mobile generator. My husband also got a great deal on a water storage tank. A pipe supply company that he does a lot of business with had a damaged 1350 gallon water tank out back that they let him have for about 1/4 of the original price (they had already fixed the damage that it incurred while it was being unloaded). We already have it plumbed into our barn gutter and got 400 gallons the first day!

We also got 2 free damaged hot tubs. The first one my husband is going to fix for us to use. The second one he already found someone to trade for a small solar system to run 2 light bulbs. We are moving up a small building for our bedroom off of our Yurt and this will provide the lighting for the building. Very exciting! Can't wait to get it, I've never really seen a solar system up close and personal. I also will be pretty happy when my husband finishes the building so that I can get just a little privacy from the kiddos.

If anyone wants to check out my website it is:

http://www.goddess-potions.com/

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and doing lots of baking. I'm trying to decide what I should bake today! Pumpkin Bread comes to mind, hhhhmmmm.

Below is the birth story of my homebirth of my now 18 month old. I thought I'd post it with a few pics (the inside of the yurt is in the background). My sister had her almost 3 year old in her yurt as well. It was the middle of summer so she labored outside under the stars in the birthing tub with the crickets, frogs, and birds talking as the sun went down and the moon came up. It was the first homebirth I've ever attended. Even though I had planned on having a homebirth if we ever had another child I certainly vowed then and there never to again step foot in the hospital for something so natural as giving birth unless their was a medical emergency reason to go.

My due date of December 20^th had come and gone. I had been having contractions on and off for days and mostly just tried to ignore them because they always went away. I kept busy with getting ready for Christmas and getting ready to have my baby. Everything was normal for me the night of December 23^rd. I woke up at 6:30am on December 24^th. My husband asked me if there was something wrong because he said I was really restless all night and kept him up. I told him that I had been having a few contractions but nothing too exciting. I got out of bed to put a log on the fire. I squatted down and when I stood up fluid ran down my legs. I told my husband that I think my water just broke and that I think our baby would be born on Christmas Eve. I went into the bathroom and wiped my legs with one of my white washcloths from my birthing kit (I had a basket full of white washcloths and white towels for my birth. It helps the midwife tell what color the blood is and how much of it there is). I found that not only did I have pink tinged fluid on my legs but that I also had huge gobs of bloody mucus as well when I wiped. I figured that this must truly be it! I was very very excited! I tried to eat a good breakfast so that I could keep up my strength for the day ahead. I also broke open one of my bottles of Recharge out of my birthing kit to stay nice and hydrated for the hard work ahead. I called my midwife at 8:30am and told her that I didn’t know what she had planned for Christmas Eve but she better work in some time to deliver a baby. I told her I wasn’t near ready for her and would call her later when I wanted/needed her. 

After breakfast I decided that I wanted to walk. I put on a moo-moo type nightgown and some boots and walked up and down our top hill over and over. I found that I had a certain tree that I was always at when I had a contraction and would lean against the tree during my contractions. I felt at the time that I would always remember that tree for helping me get through my early labor. My sister joined me for my hiking and my husband and kids mostly left me alone (what I wanted, I mostly like to be left alone during labor). I came inside at one point but while I was leaning against the table my husband kept saying “what’s wrong, what’s wrong, is that a contraction, is that a contraction” when the contraction was over I snapped at him that “YES, it WAS a contraction, what did he THINK it was?!?”. I decided then that I didn’t want to be inside at all and left again to go hike. Around 12:30 I told my husband to fill my birthing tub because I needed some relief from the pain of the contractions. While he was doing that I called my midwife and told her that I was fine and that my contractions were 6min apart. I told her that I didn’t need her yet but that my husband was filling the tub and I wanted to get in. She told me to go for it but to get out if my contractions spaced too widely apart. I was so very happy to see a few hundred gallons of hot water and relaxed into the tub. I opened another bottle of Recharge since I didn’t want the hot water to dehydrate me. Almost immediately my contractions started coming every 3min and were hard and very painful. I was a little like “what the &*^&%^” I wanted to relax for a minute, I’m not suppose to go from 6min to 3min and hard labor in the space of a few minutes!! Back this labor wagon up! After the first few contractions of me in the tub my husband started telling me that he wanted to call the midwife, he wanted the midwife, could he call the midwife. After a few contractions I realized that it was time to call. I live about 30min from my midwife (and from town) so she didn’t get out to me until I think 1:45pm-2:00pm. By the time she got out here I was past talking to anyone and was only just getting through each contraction.

I barely paid attention to her coming and her assistants setting everything up. With a home birth they bring all the stuff you would think of for a birth (extra lights, oxygen for me and baby if need be, emergency kit with tubes and suctions if need be, plus all the other medical supplies like latex gloves, chucks pads, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, all those sorts of things). After they set up all the medical type stuff the assistants made my bed up. First went a clean set of sheets, then goes a shower curtain liner, next goes another clean layer of sheets. On top of all that goes chucks pads. Then my blankets are kept nearby for after the birth to cover me and baby.

I really didn’t notice all this though. By the time they got there I was in complete labor land and not able to talk much. I kept yelling “no, no, no, no, no” during every contraction. My midwife got down in front of me at one point and said “yes, Morning, yes, yes you can do this” and apparently I just yelled “no” in her face. It didn’t really feel negative at the time though, it just felt like something I had to say that “no” I didn’t like this pain and “no” I didn’t want it to keep going on. Towards the end I started grabbing the sides of the tub and letting out very loud screams/groaning sounds. My midwife checks the baby’s heartbeat every 20 min or so during a contraction with an under water Doppler but towards the end I couldn’t stand to be in one position during a contraction and refused to let them check the baby.

I then got out of the tub and started pacing (of course stark naked). I paced outside onto my porch and paced around there for a bit. I wanted to cry at this point and felt like I was breaking down. I told myself that if it hurt this much and felt all these things then the end was very near and I would see my baby very soon but the other side of  my brain said that I couldn’t last even one more contraction so what did it matter if it was almost over ?!? My midwife brought out a birthing stool and had me try and sit on it to bring the baby down the last little bit and I tell you I’ve never felt so much pain trying to sit on that birthing stool. I ended up not being able to do it but it didn’t matter because I climbed onto my bed because my body said it was time to push. I got on all fours and tried out a few pushes with the first contraction and it hurt so badly! The next contraction I only pushed just a little bit, just to relieve some of the insane pressure, but I just couldn’t bring myself to push that baby out. Then with the next contraction I told myself that this is it, this baby is coming out! I pushed as slowly as I could but I pushed the baby all the way out with that contraction. And then there she was, screaming and pink and beautiful. It was 3:46pm. The midwife placed her up on my chest and I fell instantly in love. After 4 years of infertility, surgeries, miscarriages, and finally natural IVF, I finally had my baby and it was a sweet little baby girl, our third girl (we didn't know the sex until she was born). I had wanted a home birth through most of those 4 years and was joyful that I managed not only to get pregnant but to have my home birth.

She was a screamer from minute one. The midwife said she was screaming even before she was completely out. I nursed her immediately and she wouldn’t let me stop so we didn’t cut her cord for about a half an hour (it was wrapped up in a towel next to us). When the time came my then 11yr old daughter cut the cord (my husband doesn’t like to do it).

After the birth the midwives clean everything up (they even do the laundry). My bed was stripped down to those bottom clean sheets and we snuggled in. The midwives had made sure the yurt was plenty warm about ½ hour before the actual birth so it was really warm in there. I had on extra space heaters and my husband had saved some really hot burning wood for when the baby was born. When my midwife checked me I had not even one little tear and it didn’t even hurt to go pee for the first time. I was blessed indeed! She weighed 8lbs 14oz.

I've been meaning to take the time to explain how we are set up.

My sister and I each have our own 30ft round yurts. In our yurt we have me, my husband of 15 years, our 12yr old daughter, our 9yr old daughter, and our 1 1/2 yr old daughter. In my sister's yurt she has herself, her husband of 7 years, their 4yr old son, and their 2yr old son. Behind the yurts sits a single wide oooollllldddd trailer (yuck! but it serves its purpose) with our combined households kitchen, dining, laundry, and a bathroom for each family on either end of the trailer (it was the only trailer we could find that had two bathrooms).

My sister's yurt is all open with her boys bed being a queen bed that is shoved up next to their king bed. Basically it looks like a studio apartment might look (minus kitchen and bathroom). Because my girls are older we have ours chopped up a bit. We have high tech ropes, sheets, and cloths pins. Each of the older girls has an "area" and my husband and I have an "area" with the baby. I also have an area with my sewing/serger machines and our computer. We have satellite internet, which is great until a storm blows in.

It is not a great set up or one that feels very permanent. Although we've been living like this for going on three years (where did the time go!). It isn't that fun to have to go brush your teeth for bedtime when you have to actually go outdoors to reach the bathroom. I tell my kids that I had to go to an outhouse when I was little, at least they can flush a toilet when they finally get to their bathroom! I don't think they find this funny.

We have hoped to start on our actual house now for about a year and we don't seem to be getting any closer. Money problems (of course!) plus a structure that we've been bringing up to code for the last three years is really holding us back. The structure should be brought up to code this summer and we are very much hoping to refinance everything to start a house by next spring. I won't be holding my breath though. We go back and forth between wanting to throw money down to make our lives a little comfortable and not wanting to spend the money because we are going to get a house soon.

It has been very warm here the last few days and I don't like it at all. I'm not fond of the heat at all. It was in the high 80's the last two days and that's just too hot for me.

We got a rooster today to help protect the ladies. I'm hoping he doesn't mess with them too much, they are still pretty young (a couple of months old). We have lost a few though to our Jack Russell and they need more protection. We lost our entire flock last year to raccoons in a matter of weeks. We put a 6ft. fence around our whole area, an electric line around the bottom, and we lock them up every night in their home so hopefully they will only die of old age from here on out!

My oldest daughter (12yrs old) started selling her raw goat milk this week to some people from her uncle's work. She is selling it for $5 a half gallon and has between 1-2 gallons a week sold right now. She is very excited to start this venture. She started her first little business when she was 6 and has been going strong ever since. Her 4H fair is coming up in July and her meat goat is still pretty wild. She is trying to walk him every night but he cries like someone is trying to cut off a hoof with a spoon. Tonight she tried riding her four wheeler and walking him beside her. Her 4H leader for some reason thought this would help since he sits down and then won't get back up. He didn't like it any better. Back to square one!

My 9yr old daughter is very busy this week (as is her driver!) getting ready for her big dance recital this weekend. We have dress rehearsal late into Thursday night (9pm is pretty late for momma!) and two dance performances this weekend. I am very excited for her she has been working on her dance all year. We go to a Christian dance studio and I love all the music they've picked out. It's so nice not having to worry about what kind of music or costumes they will pick out for our little dancers.

Last but not least we found the strangest thing, a turtle. The same chicken killing Jack Russell was a little too interested in a big "rock" and that rock turned out to be a turtle. We think it was a western pond turtle and went ahead and released him. All the kids watched him walk around a little kiddie pool for a few hours and then we went down to the bottom of our property and found a marshy area and released him. He seemed to be very happy and dove under some leaves in a puddle. I hope we made the right decision and we didn't just release someone’s pet (although I can't imagine how a pet would get all the way out here?)

I have never set up a Blog before and am now just trying to figure it all out. I think I actual deleted my only comment. Oops!

We have a 30ft canvas yurt from Pacific Yurts. I am going to post pictures of our place as soon as I can figure it out.

Right now I'm working on making my own cloth menstrual pads. My first one last night was a complete bust. I'm going to try a different pattern and give it another go tonight. My baby is 16 months old and nursing very regularly (unfortunately this includes the wee hours of the night!). My periods are still very irregular so I don't know when these new pads will be called into action. I'm sure before they are ready!

I don't know if this exciting enough to be called "news from a Yurt in Oregon" but it's all I have!