A Day in August

A Day in August ~ Saturday August 28th, 2010.

It is time for a day in our lives. We documented a day in July and since than have added a new member to our family. Our days are much different in just a months time.

I decided to document a day that Ryan was home, as the days with just the boys and me are filled with nursing and occupying a toddler. That's it. No one wants to see that.

My day started at 5:45am with a swift kick to the back and sides. Jack had made his way into our bed during the night and was restless and tossed (kicked) and turned. I think he may be getting his last molars in and is pretty cranky. I went to sleep at 1:45am that morning. Colin decided to stay awake and nurse forever. Once I finally got him in the pack'n'play, he spit up all over and I had to change everything. At 1:30am. Awesome.

So at 5:45am I slowly got up and changed Colin's diaper and brought him to the living room to nurse him. By the time the nursing, burping, supplementing, burping, and swaddling was all complete it was 7:30am and I went back to my occupied bed. Jack got up shortly after, but Ryan got up with him and let me sleep. I might not make it through the week if I did not have those extra little morning naps. I love the weekends.

I was back up around 9:30am and this little fuzz head was still sleeping.

The toddler was playing with his stuffed animals in the living room and I walked into the kitchen to see this glorious site. Ryan was washing the dishes. By hand. Our dishwasher broke a day or so after I had Colin. Awesome timing. I love having to take up extra time to hand wash everything. But I LOVE having the hubby do the dishes while I sleep.

I grabbed a quick bowl of cold cereal before I went to get Colin up. I was starving. Those nursing sessions make me ravenous. After another diaper change, it was nursing time. Jack joined in on the fun, along with his animal friends. He was not, however, a fan of having it documented. He was telling me "No camera".

We had a lifegroup summer get together, so after I wrapped up nursing I went to the kitchen to finish chopping the rest of my Italian pasta salad. So easy, healthy and so good.

It was around 11:45am by this time and I made french toast for a Saturday morning brunch. Jack helped me reorganize some of my cabinets.

I love a good french toast with coffee on the weekend. We needed the extra oompf for our upcoming pool party. Plus, I am pretty much always hungry.





After our lunch, it was nap time for babies. Jack went down really easily and even Colin joined in on the snooze fest. I, however, did not. I took a shower and had time to blow dry my hair and get ready. It was a good thing the boys slept so well since it took me forever to find something to wear. I am in the awful stage of maternity clothes are too big and my regular clothes are awkward and tight. After trying on pretty much anything that i could squeeze into, I was ready.

We had another nursing session after I got ready, but really... how many nursing pictures do you really want to see?

After the babe was fed, the toddler sunscreened and changed, we were off. Milton the Monkey came along for the ride... Jack decided he needed to wear his sunglasses. " Nice eyes" he kept telling his little stuffed friend.

After munching on food and swimming the afternoon away, the boys were all done for the day. Colin and I chilled out and talked with our other new momma friend and her little lady. I was not about to get my four week post pardum body in a swimsuit at a social event. Let's be serious here.

We got home after 5pm and it was time to feed the little man again. Do you see a pattern here? :) Ryan mowed the lawn while I feed the baby and occupied Jack with some 'Elmo Potty Time'. We were hoping it would inspire him. It hasn't. When we ask him about going potty, he looks very seriously at me and says, " No, Mommy. No potty. Diapers. No potty." Great.

After I wrapped up with Colin, I took Jack outside to play while Ryan finished up mowing the lawn. It has finally cooled down to the mid 80s and I can let Jack outside for longer than 10 minutes.

After some play time, we had a light dinner of pasta salad and left overs and got Jack ready for bed. First clean up time...

Than it is time for books with Daddy, followed by teeth brushing and than off to bed.

We rented some redbox movies for the weekend and Ryan and Colin snuggled in to watch 'The Bounty Hunter'. We had some popcorn and a little ice cream and enjoyed some down time together.

By 11pm Colin was changed and ready to eat and Mommy was ready for him to go to sleep. After another nice long nursing session, he was ready for bed. I just love the milk coma face. They are my favorite. That is one happy, satisfied little baby.

We all went to bed a little before midnight. If you are keeping tabs here, I slept a whoppin' 6 total hours this day. It is a pretty typical days worth of sleep for me...maybe even a little bit more than normal.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though. I laid Colin down at midnight, set my alarm and went to sleep. Apparently, I set my alarm, but failed to turn it on. Colin woke me up at 6:40am!! He slept 6 1/2 hours straight! I slept 6 1/2 hrs straight! It was glorious. Because of all his little weight issues, I still need to wake him up to eat around 5 hrs, but hopefully we can just let him wake up on his own very soon...and hopefully he will sleep that long all the time!

That is our day in August. More active than normal, thanks to the extra help from Ryan. It was a good day.

I wonder how our days will change in September?

Oops!

It was 10pm. Baby boy had been freshly changed and put into a soft, snuggly blue sleeper. He was ready to nurse and than go down for bed. Ryan was spending some cuddle time with Colin, talking to him on his lap. Little man started to get fussy. I figured he was ready to eat. I was wrong.





He needed to be changed. Again.

So did his daddy.



Colin made quite the mess. I about died laughing. I am just glad it wasn't me this time! :)

In a Month

My littlest man is a month old. It seems crazy that he has been with us for a full for 4 weeks. It also seems like the longest week stretched out. I am definitely in the sleepless newborn stage. Though it is much different with two kids. I can not nap when the baby naps... I sleep when my two year old AND my newborn sleeps. This happens only between 1am and 7am and on a REALLY good day, between 1-3pm, give or take. SO, having two babies? MUCH harder than the first one. I feel like if I just had Colin, it would be a walk in the park.

Colin also likes to give us some mild panic, like any good child does to their parents. Once again, I am dealing with a child and eating/nursing issues. Colin is able to suck like a champ, unlike his older brother as this age, but he just decides to latch and unlatch to his hearts content. He also decided to not gain weight for a solid two weeks.

At his 1 week appointment he weighed in at 7lbs 3oz, his discharge weight from the hospital. No biggie said the pediatrician. My milk was in since the hospital and she expected him to gain and almost be to birth weight at his 2 week appointment.

He didn't. He lost a half oz. He eats ALL the time. I nurse him from both sides for a good 30 minutes per side. Now, he is a sleepy, lazy little newborn, so this is not straight sucking... but it is a long nursing session non the less. So we had to began a slew of test of why he was not absorbing calories and began supplementing him with formula after his hour long nursing session.

5 days later he gained weight and was at his birthweight. The tests came back with good results and much of the panic stopped. ( Scary words like syndromes and Cystic Fibrosis has been used...) Back to full time breastfeeding.

Four days later we were back for a weight check. He was back to 7lbs 8 oz. Sigh. More blood test and more supplementing. I feed him and supplemented him all weekend. On Monday, he topped the scale at a whoppin' 8 lbs 1 oz. That is a half pound gain for the little man. All the test results came back with no problems. So, what was the problem? Me.

I obviously was not making enough to supply him with what he needs. So, now I am nursing ALL the time, pumping and drinking water like it is going out of style. We are stuck with supplementing him still for the next month, but to play everything by ear. I am a sad momma. I WILL nurse this boy... praying that things improve real soon.

Anyone have any good ideas on how to increase milk supply and/or the nutrient levels of my milk?

So, that has been our month, with lots of cute antics by Jack, blowouts by Colin, and sweet little moments barely remembered in my sleepless stupor.

I am attempting to do a day in August like this post, but will probably wait till the weekend. Nursing shots with toy laiden living rooms and people in pjs till 4pm is not super exciting viewing material. Maybe I will actually do my hair instead of pulling it back into a ponytail for these pictures. Maybe, just maybe.

Sleep

He gets plenty of sleep.

I do not.

Birthing Colin

Colin came into the world on July 27th at 2:46am. His debut was quite different from his brother. To really understand the decisions made for this labor and the reaction that we had to it, you have to know a little bit about the first time I gave birth.


(Warning:This is REALLY long.)



Jack's birth story was dramatic. If you want, you can read about it here. The short story of it is this~ I was in labor for 24+ hrs with Jack. Any complication that you could have, I did. I went drug free to 9cm and was forced to have an epidural to make sure my uterus was not riping. (I was having a lot of pain in between contractions) It didn't work. I had to have another epidural. I pushed for 2 hours. I had a vacuum. None of this worked. I had a c-section. Due to the pushing and vacuum, I had a double recovery. Full vaginal, full c-section surgery recovery. NOT fun. I was a good 3 weeks into recovery before I felt semi-human. ( I also had stupid complications after birth) When people would tell me about the ease of labor, the joy of giving birth or the speed of their delivery, I could not understand a bit of it. It didn't make any sense to me.



When I found out that I was pregnant for Colin I was surprised, happy and then apprehensive about giving birth again. 3 days later I found out my OB doctor had retired. I panicked. I had no idea where to go, who to see and I REALLY wanted to have my same midwife who knew what I went through the first time. Looking back, I realized that I started to have anxiety about Colin's birth pretty much right away.



I ended up finding a good practice that was recommended by a friend and who had the highest percentages of VBACs ( Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) in the state. I would be at a small catholic hospital that had a midwifery center attached to it. Touring the hospital gave me an instant peace and we felt we were in the right place.



I had a really great pregnancy. Mild nausea in the first trimester and that was the only problem. I moved and painted a whole house when I began my 3rd trimester. No big deal. I felt good and the baby was doing well. The only issue that we had was whether I was going to schedule a c-section or attempt a VBAC. There were pros and cons to both situations. If I was to have a VBAC, I could have as many children as I wanted and I would not have a surgery recovery. I would be able to pick Jack up sooner than 6 weeks and be able to move around better. If I was to have a C-section, it could be planned and there was no surprise variable about the labor. I would be limited to 3 c-sections only, thus limiting us to 3 kids only. We are not even sure if we want more than 3 kids, but having that option taken away bothered me for some reason.

So I stressed about this. By 35 weeks I began to freak out a bit. I wanted the decision to be clear to us, one way or the other. After going through my labor and surgery notes, the practice had a good idea of what went wrong with Jack and a large percentage of the problems was his position. He was posterior and slightly to the side, meaning he was facing the wrong way and off to the side. If Colin was in that same position, than I would for sure need another C-section. I did everything I could to flip this kid around. 3 out of the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy Colin was in the wrong position.


Anxious to have some sort of answers I went into my 39wk appointment. I had been having some contractions at this point. I was ready to have some decisions made. Colin was in the wrong position and up pretty high. I was dialated to a 1, barely. I wanted to cry. I was sent home with instructions on how to flip him, evening prim rose oil to help me soften and dialate and a follow-up appointment on Monday. I was to have a nonstress test done, as I would have been a day past my due date.


I started to have some good contractions Thursday night and most of Friday. I was pumped. I figured this baby was coming that weekend. Friday night they stopped. Completely. Saturday and Sunday nothing happened. I wanted to scream. My mom was in town for only 2 weeks and I needed her help after I had to baby, not before! Ryan and I talked and if we went into our Monday appointment and Colin was still high and in the posterior position, than we would schedule a c-section that day if possible, if not for sure on Tuesday. I finally felt some relief. I would have a baby by Tuesday. I would have a c-section and the scar of labor would not happen.


Monday morning I woke up at 5am with contractions. They came every 5 minutes but they did not hurt that much. They did keep me awake though and by 10am they had stopped. What in the world was going on with my body? I made Ryan pack up the car for the hospital and off we went to the dr. I was ready to schedule my c-section and be done with this.


Everything went fine with the nonstress test and I was having contractions every 30 minutes or so. Nothing to get excited about. My doctor went to check me and to check the position of the baby. I was dilated to a 4. What?! 4cm?! I was in full active labor with Jack when I went into the hospital at a 4. I was not having contractions and yet, I was at a 4 almost 5?! The baby was in a good position and had dropped more. What?! So, now our plans for a c-section changed again. The doctor stripped my membranes and scheduled an early morning induction for the next day. Since I was so far along, she thought that if I just had a bit of pitocin to trigger some contractions, I would go into labor right away. So, back home we went.


Ryan was a bit freaked out. He was afraid that I would have a few good strong contractions and have that baby at home! We were home for a total of an hour and a half before we went back to the hospital. My contractions had jumped to every 4 minutes apart and they hurt. A lot. My midwife informed me I failed the Group Strep B test and I needed to come in to get 4 hours worth of antibiotics in. Great. Someone forgot to inform me of this.


We checked into the hospital at 6pm. They wanted me to get an epidural right away to slow my labor down and get the 4 full hours of antibiotics. Since I was a VBAC I had 2 monitors attached to my stomach, as well as 2 different IVs and a heart rate monitor on my finger. I could not move there were so many cords coming off of me. All of my natural child birthing techniques went out the window at that point. The epidural was much welcomed at 8:30pm.



Once the epidural set in, it was like a whole new experience. I was not in pain and I was happy and relaxed. I even sent Ryan out of the hospital to get some food. Poor Ryan never left my side for a minute with Jack's labor. I just rested and tried to get some sleep while the epidural did its work. It was like a walk in the park! No stress, no pain, no intense concentration. While I felt like a big wimp for getting an epidural at only 6cm, the ease and peace of this labor was like a breathe of fresh air. The only weird thing that happened was that the epidural made me itch really bad. It was slightly annoying, but I will take itching over pain any day!



We had worship music playing and we just rested. By 10pm I was almost done with my antibiotics and my midwife broke my water. She told me she would come back at midnight to check me again. Ryan and I figured I would be at 7cm by then and would probably have the baby around 6am the next morning.



At midnight the nurse checked me and I was fully dialated! I was not feeling an urge to push, so the nurse left us and said that baby would let her know by the monitors when he was ready to come. 20 minutes later she came back and told me the baby was telling her to get pushing. I began to shake.



I had uncontrollable shakes for the rest of the labor. Ryan wanted to get me a blanket because he thought I looked cold. I wasn't. I was hot. My body just reacted by shaking. A lot. They told me this was normal. When I had read about shaking during transition, I didn't think it would be as bad as it was with me!



I started pushing around 12:45. Colin was not coming down as much as he should have. Things got intense as his heart rate started to drop while I was having contractions. I needed to get this baby out soon. My midwife said that if I did not push him out soon, they would have to do a vacuum. I flipped out.



All of the fear of my last labor flooded me. I had a vacuum with Jack. It didn't work. I could not go through another full labor and have a c-section again. I could not do a double recovery with a toddler. We started praying and I kept pushing.



Around 2 am the doctor came in and started getting me ready for the vacuum. They knew my past experience and they were positive. I had pushed him farther down than they thought. I was determined. I had Ryan turn up the worship music. I relaxed, prayed and pushed. In one contractions they got a good grasp with the vacuum. The second contraction they pulled him to crowning. By the third contraction he was out!



Waves of emotion hit me as I saw him come out. It was over. He was safe. I did not have to have surgery. I cried. Ryan cried. Colin was crying. The little man had the cord wrapped around his neck twice, just like his brother. That was what was causing his distress and dropping his heart rate. Fortunately his apgar tests were great.



I didn't realize the amount of stress and anxiety that I had till he came out. It was like 9 months of pressure leaving. We made it through and we had our baby. If I would have had the c-section, I would have been just as relieved. It was over.



My recovery has been much better this time around. I am amazed at how quickly I was moving around. My one and only complaint was that the nurse forgot to give me any pain medicine after I gave birth. I finally asked for some Tylenol 5 hours after giving birth. I went to my room during a shift change and it got missed. It was a miserable few hours for me. I was wishing for some of that morphine from my c-section! Once the edge was taken off, I felt great.




Colin Edward Fedell weighed in at 7lbs 12 0z and was 20 3/4 inches long. We named him Colin because we loved the name and we loved that is meant Victor. Edward is after Ryan's father and means provider.



Colin is a sweet little guy and we are so excited to see his little personality come out and get to know him. The Lord surprised us with Colin and we are excited to see God's plan for his life. His birth was a beautiful experience for us and it renewed my faith that God really does take care of his children.



I know this was long, but I wanted to record this for my own personal sake. I don't want to forget what happened and I want to remember to thank the Lord for his care and provisions over both of my children and both of their births.

2 weeks!

Mr. Colin has been with us for two whole weeks now! He is a funny little man who likes his momma and his milk. He gets a bit too excited come nursing time, which cause him to get frustrated when he has to work a bit for some food. He has the most hilarious mad face ever. One quick little cry followed by a seriously old man mad face. It kills me. I am dying to get a photo of that little mad face, but they are fast and furious and usually at the start of a nursing session, so no luck. Does that make me a bad mom to want to photograph his tantrums?

Anyway, my days and nights are all smashed together into feeding/non feeding. Jack is doing awesome with his brother. He loves him and want to cuddle and kiss Colin all the time. He has thrown a bit more fits with Ryan and I, but overall, Jack is doing great. I am so proud of him.

With a cuddly little newborn, active 2 year old and sleep coming in 2-3 hr time slots, blogging and basic social networking have been tossed to the wayside. The birth story is coming soon...

Here is a blackberry photo of my cute little 2 week old!

( Real photos to come)

My Boys

The parents have left. The Husband is at work. It is just me and my boys today. Alone. We are faring well thus far. Jack is loving Colin and Colin is as sweet as can be. I would type more, but the littlest man is hungry. Again.