What’s new… well now we have 2 oooey gooey squishy little boys to love on… that’s all! I finally have a snuggly newborn again š ahhhh how I have missed this feeling, nothing quite like it. That’s what we’ve been up to, having our newest addition “D Mac”. The stork nicely dropped him off May 24th and he weighed in at a large and in charge 6 lbs 7 oz 21″ long. Needless to say we are sleep deprived, a bit comatose at times, and baby drunk in love starting to get the hang of life with 2.
I am amazed at how easy this labor was compared to my first, all of my worrying for nothing really. Trying to make a long story short… I had been to my 39 week appointment and had made no further progress so the doc (unwilling to let me be overdue because of my blood disorder stuff) gave us 2 options for induction dates. I was nearly devastated at the thought of having ot be induced again, all of the horror from HL’s delivery came flooding back, my stomach was in knots just thinking that we were having to do this all. over. again. All I had wanted from the moment those 2 lines turned pink was to have a nice normal pregnancy and a nice normal delivery. Well apparently Baby D was on the same bandwagon because the day before we were scheduled for induction he decided to make his grand entrance, WOOOOOT!
I was kind of running around like a crazy person… I was sweeping and mopping the floors, I threw food on the stove to start making some last minute freezer meals, I cleaned theĀ kitchen, did the dishes, got the toddler up and dressed. Then I called the hubbs at work. I told him it was definitely time so he should start heading home. Ironically one of his coworkers whose wife shared my same due date happened to go into labor that same morning! So naturally things were a bit hectic at his office š good timing D!
From the moment I woke up at 7:00am the contrax were about 7-10 minutes apart and by the time hubbs was home and we were headed to the hospital at 10:30 they were 4 minutes apart and pretty painful. Checked in the hospital at 11:00 at 3-4 cm which I was psyched about. My doc showed up and broke my water per my request rather than starting Pitocin. I also requested not to receive any fluids which meant one less cord to be attached to and less trips to the bathroom. Held out to about 5.5 cm and finally asked for my epidural. Unfortunately it only worked on half of my body AGAIN! Soooo frustrating but they were able to give me enough boluses of meds so that my pain was definitely manageable, not comfortable but manageable. And then wham bam, I went from 5.5 cm to 10 in about 2 hours and it was time to push, it was SOOOO fast I couldn’t believe it.
About a half hour before I started pushing they dosed me up again and that made delivery a piece of cake, seriously it was NOTHING. I pushed for 4 contractions and voila, baby. The best part of the delivery was that my doctor actually had my husband deliver Baby D, like full out gowned up sitting at the bottom of the bed the whole time. My doctor actually held my leg while the hubbs sat at the foot of the bed for the entire delivery, it was very cool and so special. She told him that she’d knock him out of the way if she needed to otherwise it was all him!
Next up was meeting the big brother… the pictures speak for themselves… HL was, and still is, in total wonderment of his little brother. The first words out of his mouth were “kiss” as he leaned in to give him kisses. My heart has never been so full or proud as it is holding both of my boys.
After a short hospital stay we’re all home and settling in. All 4 of us are doing really well! D Mac is an incredible eating machine, he wants to eat every 2 hours, sometimes every HOUR, and has taken up to 4 oz at times already. He’s insatiable and up to 7lbs 4 oz at his 2 week check up! That is wearing us out for sure. We’ve tried really hard to get him onto a feeding schedule but with this appetite it isn’t going very smoothly like it did with HL so we’re being patient. He’s also starting to show signs of colic, my ultimate nightmare. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t get worse, right now it’s half way manageable that’s all I can say for fear that I jinx myself.
HL is doing so good with his little brother, better than I had hoped for. We had a few days of super clingyness, some wubbanub theiving, and a whack in the face (poor D, I guess it’s preparation for his future) but now after a couple of weeks he is awesome! He actually shares, has stopped theiving the wubby and even gives it to baby D when he cries. The first words I hear every morning are HL calling for his brother. He loves to stare at him and help rock him in the swing. Even trips in the car have been completely uneventful, I’ve been pleasantly surprised! They are already best buds and his favorite thing to do is love on his baby brother, melts my heart.
Life with 2 so far is crazy and also a joy. I am in love with my boys but I won’t lie,Ā the logistics of everyday life are definitely chaotic. The sleep deprivation is no joke, since little dude refuses to eat on any kind of schedule we are up allll night long with him, add the colic and gas issues and it can be overwhelming. I get up and have multiple diapers to change, multiple bottles to make, jammies to change, swaddles to fix. Someone is usually always crying, someone always wants to be held andĀ usually it’sĀ both at once. I have learned to hold/change/feed one kid while rocking another with a breast pump attached to my boobs and manage somehow to answer phone calls in between crying fits and check email. It’s multi-tasking at it’s finest and I think it would prove the most amazing birth control on the planet if a camera crew were in my house. There are multiple loads of baby and toddler laundry to be done, 2 diaper pails to be taken out, 2 sets of sippys and bottles to be washed, everything times 2! Thank god that HL still takes a morning nap, that’s the only time I have to pump uninterrupted, to sweep the floors, pick up the house and clean the kitchen.
I am still leary of leaving the house, that is the major breaking point, it’s nothing short of a circus. You have to hold a toddler’s wandering hand and help them up and down steps to get to the car while holding an infant in the carrier… fyi toddlers are slow and babies in carriers are heavy. Then it’s a calculated move on how to get both into the car, baby first or toddler first? Ideally the mobile human goes in first while the non-mobile one hangs out butĀ believe it or not it usually depends on how big the parking space is! I’ll paint a picture for a moment- I get HL out of his seat, carry him to the other side of the car (because lifting the infant carrier over the toddler seat is next to impossible) I pin him in between my legs and the car and car door so he can’t run off while I lean over to the middle of the car and break my back getting the infant seat out, then you adjust, lock car doors and put keys away,Ā grab toddlers hand, close the car door with your hip and hopefully have an uneventful s.l.o.w. walk to the door of your desination hoping that toddler’s shoes/sandals don’t fall off in the parking lot. If they do, mommy tears are close to follow. When all else fails you pick up toddler and infant carrier, a mere extra 60 lbs with diaper bag, and carry everyone into the destination hoping someone opens the door for you.
Momma Maven 