Teatopia

Birthday boy

For my hubby:

Enjoy your last year of being in your 20's!

Adapting to life with 2

It's been a week since I posted. We've been busy adjusting to having two kids. I've done pretty well with James back to work, but it really helps to have my mom here to help. I've managed to go a few places on my own though. For the last two weeks, I've taken both kids to the breastfeeding moms group through the hospital (I already know some of the mom from La Leche League) and I made one quick trip to the store, too.

Liam is a pretty good sleeper at night, which is a welcome change from what we experienced with Olivia. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 18 months old. He's more awake now during the day and I feel like I'm getting to know him better. He's starting to coo more and really look at us. The poor little guy has baby acne all over his face right now, but I know it'll go away like it did with Olivia.

James and I went to our last Bradley class and brough Liam back to show everyone. We got to share our birth story (still have to finish writing it!) and encourage those who haven't yet had their babies. I'm so glad we took the class because it made going natural much more do-able. I really used my knowledge from the class.

I'm thinking of canceling the moms group that I co-organize with Sara because they just put their house up for sale and are trying to move a few hours away. I'm really bummed about them moving because it's so hard to find friends I really get along with well who also have a child Olivia's age. In this case, James and her hubby are friends, and they have kids both our kids ages. It was hard when MF moved a few months ago, and now with Sara moving, I feel like I'm back to square one. This happens so much because we have so many military families here, and those are usually the moms who come to playgroups and things. Our moms group has been fairly inactive anyway with Sara having had a baby a couple months before me, and now me being busy with Liam. I'm sure you remember me blogging about Karen from the group I was originally in. Well, a bunch of moms left her group (what a big shocker) and started their own. They didn't want to be in a Christian group (like mine and Sara's) so I am thinking of joining theirs. I really wanted a Christian environment for Olivia, but the idea just wasn't very popular, so I think I'm going to make things easier on myself and not worry about hosting events and just join this new group. I know a few of the moms and they are really nice. I want to make sure Olivia is regularly around other kids. she loves playing, and it's good for me to have the socialization. Being a SAHM can get really lonely even though I have Olivia to interact with.

Other notable things:

*We've managed to go out to eat a few times with both kids. I was so nervous about it.

* I'm getting the hang of changing a boy! Finally!

* Liam actually didn't cry when we bathed him last night. First time ever.

* Double strollers are a pain to lift out of a trunk, but when both kids are actually in it and not upset, it's a life saver.

* My stomach has gone down so much faster this time, but the loose skin is nasty. I am strongly considering a tummy tuck.

My big girl

I love the age Olivia is currently at because something funny comes out of her mouh every day. Here are a few things she said in the last couple days that made me laugh. She really doesn't miss much.

Yesterday, as always, she came with me to the bathroom. She complains that James and I are stinky when we poo-poo, but she still wants to sit there. Well, yesterday, she sat there and dramatically gagged (as she typically does if she even thinks someone might poop) and said, "I don't like poo-poo much. It's really stinky. Tee-tee is much better!"

Along the same lines, she's been telling the dogs to get away from her because they have breath! Soooo funny!

Also yesterday:
Olivia: When Liam is older, he'll walk and talk like me.
Me: Yes, that's right. He'll be able to do lots of things.
Olivia: Liam has hands, like I do.
Me: Yes, he has hands, but he can't really use them much yet.
Olivia: Yes he can. He pulls my hair when I hug him!

Last night, we ate at Red Robin, and they had someone dressed up as a big, red bird. Olivia loved seeing him, but wouldn't let him hug her. This morning, as she was eating breaskfast, this is what she said:
Olivia: I want to go to that red place and see the red bird, but I not talk to him because I shy. I just look and wave at him. I don't get too close.

It's awesome having a tiny, helpless newborn and a fun, talkitive toddler. It's really the best of both worlds, but of course, also a lot of work. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

Woo-hoo!

Now this is something to celebrate!

At not even two weeks post-partum, I am comfortably wearing a pair of pants that were too small BEFORE I got pregnant with Liam! I am *so* staying on this gestational diabetes diet (except for the sundae I plan to eat tonight when we go out for ice cream!)

You won't believe what this woman said to me . . .

My midwife and pediatrician let us go home from the hospital on the second day since they knew we had a toddler at home. Since we left early, we had to go back the next morning so the hospital could check Liam's bilirubin levels. As were leaving, this lady stopped to admire the baby. She commented how cute he was and asked if he was mine. I thought that was an odd question. I told her he was and she looked confused. Then she asked, "he's yours and you're already pregnant again?" I know my stomach was still big, but hello! It had only been 50 some odd hours since I gave birth! How could she think I was far enough along to be showing and have a baby that looked brand new? I explained to her that he's 2 days old and that it takes a while for the uterus to go back to its original size. She still looked confused and asked, "So you're not pregnant?" I didn't even know what to say. I should've told her I had twins and the other hadn't come out yet. :-)

The second time around

Yes, I know. He looks nothing like me and completely like James. I did all the work, it really isn't fair. :-)

I love being a mother of two. The second time around is much, much easier. I feel like I am enjoying it a lot more because I am much more relaxed and confident in my abilities. It's also completely incredible to see Olivia interacting with Liam. She tells him she loves him 20 times a day and says, "It's ok baby Liam. Don't cry."

The first few days were not so easy. Although Liam was nursing like a champ (which was such a relief since I had such difficulty with Olivia), he lost a lot more weight than even Olivia did in the beginning. We noticed he wasn't pooping and peeing as much as he should, and we took him to the doctor on Monday to check his weight. He was down to 7lbs 8 ozs from 8 lbs 10 ozs. Not good. I was devestated, but also confused since he was nursing a lot. His umbilical cord stump was also getting a little infected, so they prescribed some ointment and said that since my milk was just coming in, we'd give it a few days and re-check his weight. His cord ended up falling off after just 5 days and by then, everything was fine with it. Yesterday, at his 2nd appointment, he was up to 8 lbs, 5 ozs. That's a whopping 13 ozs in just 3 days! I was so happy and also proud! I love breastfeeding. There's something amazing about nourishing a child with your body. Also, he is definitely wetting and pooping enough.

Speaking of diapers, I don't know how you people with boys manage(d) to change a diaper wihtout everything getting saturated. I thought I'd be fine and could keep Mr. Winkie under control. Ha! This boy has a fire hose and it goes everywhere. Does this stop at some point? Surely they don't pee everywhere when they're 8 months old, do they? While we're on the topic, since I asked you all about circumcision a while back, I figured I should tell you what we chose. We actually decided to keep him intact. While I have nothing against circumcision (obviously, since we considered it), after talking to the pediatrician and doing lots of research, we decided it wasn't necessary. Socially and religiously, it wasn't really an issue for us, so we left it alone. I'm happy with the decision and so is James.

Last night, Liam had his first real bath, and he screamed the entire time. I'm still hopeful he'll end up liking bath time. Olivia screamed through her first bath but then never cried again. He doesn't cry much unless he wants to nurse (which is constantly) or if he's getting his diaper changed.

Since his belly button is now in good shape, we've been using cloth diapers, and I love them! We actually started out with cloth when he came home from the hospital, but I was worried about them rubbing his belly button since it was already kinda gooey, so we used Huggies until a couple days ago. They were easier to keep lower. The cloth kept riding up and touching his belly button. I'll have to post some pics of some seriously cute newborn fluffy fanny!

He's a pretty easy baby. I don't want to jinx anything, but he still sleeps most of the time. We wakes up to nurse, and usually goes back to sleep. I just hope it lasts. Olivia doesn't really wake up when he fusses, so it's been an easy arrangement with her in the bed with us and him next to me in the Arm's Reach Co-sleeper. We're going to try to transition them both out of our room at the same time so Olivia doesn't feel it's because of him. We'll tell her that both of them get to sleep in their big beds. She already naps a lot in hers, so she's on her way anyway.

For some reason, for me, this whole experience keeps bring up the decision whether or not we're done having children. James would like to but says we can talk about it later. I think I'm mourning no longer being pregnant even though I'd much rather have Liam here on the outside. Being pregnant becomes your identity for a while, and I feel out of place a little bit. Also, I think the idea that I might've given birth for the last time is somewhat sad. It's probably just post-partum hormones making me think about all this.

Well, I'm off to nurse Liam! Birth story is still in the works.

Introducing . . .

Our son, Liam Anthony, was born on June 5th at 12:17 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 10.3 ounces-- just .4 ounces less than his big sister. He's 22 inches long. We got home last night.

When I get the chance, I will write a proper birth story, but for now, let me just say that my midwife said mine was one of the strangest births she's seen. Although I went into labor on my own Wednesday night, things did not move quickly at all, anything but in fact. I didn't think pain like that was possible. He didn't even drop into the birth canal until minutes before coming out, which is why his head is so pretty. :-) There was meconium in the amniotic fluid and the cord was wrapped around his neck, although not tightly. He was also in a posterior position and didn't turn until he was coming out. I am proud that I had my completely natural Bradley birth, which is probably the only thing that saved me from a C-section. I don't think I could've pushed him out if I'd had an epidural. I labored in ever position imaginable to get him to come down and turn.

My mom and grandma made it just minutes before the birth, so they were again able to see another grandchild born. James was so supportive and really handled things well. I know I wasn't easy.

My birth team was amazing. I'm crying just thinking about them. My incredible midwife Melissa, my sister, and my nurse Cheryl (who my mom grew up with) were such a blessing to me. I'm not one who necessarily prefers women over men when it comes to medical things, but there was just something powerful about these women being there. They were so supportive. I can't imagine my old OBGYN wiping my head and rubbing my back and telling me things like "God is with you." I couldn't have gotten through it without them.

Liam is just beautiful and I already love him so much. Somehow this experience has made me love Olivia even more too. She's been staying with my parents and I can't wait to have her home this afternoon, although I don't know how we're going to handle both of them tonight since she still co-sleeps.

He's nursing like a champ (although we need to work on the latch) and isn't happy unless he has a nipple in his mouth. My milk isn't in yet, but hopefully soon.

I will share a full birth story soon because I have so much more to say, but for now I'm going to get some rest before Liam wakes up and Olivia gets home.

Let's get this party started

Baby boy has moved into the birth canal since yesterday and my cervix was much closer to the front, so having my membranes stripped wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. She still couldn't get to things really well, but she did enough that she hopes it works. I've had cramping off and on since then, mostly for the hour after. I've also had some contractions, but nothing really strong or regular. I've also used my breast pump for stimluation (which my MW recommended) but unfortunately, only one side is working. Time to buy a new pump!

MW said that I could come in this evening and have my water broken, or I could wait and do it tomorrow, but she's thinking I won't need to. Although, I'm skeptical. One would think many different things would have indicated labor by now. People keep telling me "it must not be time." Maybe not, but good grief, 5 centimeters?!? What if my body just isn't going to do it on its own?

Back from the midwife

I just got back from seeing my midwife, having lunch, and walking around Target.

Here are the current stats: now right at 5 centimeters, 80% effaced, cervix very soft but still posterior. I lost a pound though, which I know can be a sign of impending labor. Of course, I've had many signs that so far haven't meant a whole lot.

She couldn't easily strip my membranes because of the posterior cervix, so if nothing happens on it's own, she's going to do it tomorrow. She said it'll be very uncomfortable because it's hard to reach, but I'm so far dilated and soft that she's scared if my water were to break and drop the baby's head down, I might end up with an unplanned homebirth! She gave me the option of going to the hospital and having some pitocin, but we agreed not to, and she didn't seem all for it either. There's no reason to push it too hard except for the fact that she doesn't want me to dilate anymore unless I'm actually in labor.

I'm trying to walk as much as I can in the hopes that all the BH will bring my cervix around and/or cause baby's head to put some pressure on my cervix. That's all it would take to get this labor going.

So, here's the plan. I'm going back in the morning to have my membranes stripped. She didn't do it today for a couple reasons: 1) My MW isn't on call tonight (but will come in IF I go into labor on my own) 2) She's hoping all the walking today will bring my cervix closer and make it easier to get to the membranes tomorrow so it'll be less painful.
I guess that's really not much news, is it?

Good Morning

Don't have time for much of an entry because we're heading out the door to run errands, but I'm leaving you with a question.

Do you give treats to your toddler when they use the potty? If so, at what point should the rewards stop? I think Olivia squeezes out drops just to get a treat. We give her yogurt-covered raisins, so it's not anything unhealthy, but at some point, the rewards will have to stop.

My sources say no . . .

While walking through the mall did nothing to put me into labor, I did buy Olivia an incredibly cute pair of flip flops from Gymobree.

We also dropped off my necklace to have a June birthstone added. The stone for June is the pearl, but since it really isn't a stone, the alternative is something called Alexandrite, which I'd never heard of. We went for the lab created one because apparently, real Alexandrite is only mined in Russia and costs a gazillion times more than a diamond. It would be something like $2000 for a tiny stone no more than 3 milimeters in diameter. The lab created shouldn't be more than $150 or so.

I'm off to do some research on how to fold a prefold diaper. I ordered some super cute embellished ones and I don't really know how to put one on. I'm going to practice on some dolls and stuffed animals so when little man arrives, I'm all set!

Today would be a good day to go into labor.

I think it's time for some new material. I could have these updates forever. I need to post some pictures about things I'm cooking, or baby stuff we're buying. Anything else, so I want to share that I made bacon cheeseburger Quesadillas last night. Just wanted to say something unrelated to pregnancy. But for now . . .

I am now a loose 4.5 centimeters dilated, and can be stretched to 5.5! How do I know that on the weekend? I had my sister check me! She's a labor & delivery nurse-- part of my delivery team in fact whenever I actually do go into labor, so she checked me last night after we finished moving some stuff. She works often with my widwife, so I figured, why not take advantage of a valuable resource and find out my progress! My real-life friend Sara commented that she thought that would be weird having my sister down there, but my sister and I are so close, and I figure she's about to see it all anyway. :-) One thing making me think baby boy might not be as close to coming as I thought is that baby boy is not very engaged (only at -2 station). He's come down a bit, but he's not wedged down in the birth canal. He was a little bit before, but if you touch his head and push, he is able to float up a little and then comes back down, so he's not really stuck down in there yet. He's been down there enough though to have dilated, effaced, an softened me so much, but it's not a constant pressure. If he'd get down in there and stay, my cervix would probably keep opening and I'd go into good labor. People certainly go into labor without the baby being fully engaged, I'm just not as shocked now that I know ALL the ducks aren't in a row. I need to keep walking and work that gravity!

We didn't go to church this morning. I slept really late. We've actually been trying a new church on Saturday nights with Sara, her hubby Mark, and their two kids (their 2 year old son is Olivia's best friend) and they have a newborn baby boy. Sara is my co-organizer for my mom's group. We're liking the new church so far. I think I've been moved to tears every time we've been, and not just because I'm pregnant. The minister is fabulous. Anyway, we're headed to the mall. James wants to add another stone to my mother's necklace since we now know it'll be a June baby and not a May one. If we drop the necklace off now, it might be ready by the time baby comes, or even way before at this point.

Remember, no news is not necessarily good news. I'll try to update this evening, but if I don't, it doesn't mean I'm in labor. In fact, it probably doesn't. :-) I actually planned a week ago to cook a big family dinner tonight, thinking it wasn't likely I'd even be able to, so I'll be doing that, but I really will *try* to update. Off to thaw some meat!

James keeps reminding me, we've put this in God's hands and we must wait for His time.