What They Don't Tell You (Round 2) or Things you Forget

I remember when I had Gage that there were always those 'things' that people didn't tell you when you were expecting.  Like about the aftermath, specifically.  I remember friends, after having Gage would ask me, what are those things people never talk about that I need to know.  So I was honest, always, and brutally sometimes. 

Likewise, a few months after labor you have forgotten about all those things, the delivery, the pain, the lack of humility, etc. and you hear people always say that child bearing is worth and it and you soon forget all the bad parts of being pregnant or actually giving birth.  I always thought to myself that I probably wouldn't forget and if I sat down and thought about it, I guess I would've remembered most of it.  However, I have to say now that I agree.  You do forget and although you are not stunned, surprised or shocked by the aftermath this time, you do think 'Damn, I had forgotten about this.'

Without further ado, the list follows:

*Noone tells you the 'afterpains' are so much more intense the 2nd time around.  They literally brought tears to my eyes and some were worse than my contractions to actually get Ezra here.  Of course, after mentioning this to doctors and nurses, they say, with each child it gets worse....awesome!

*Although you don't completely forget what child birth does to your body, you'd like to and are still kinda grossed out afterwards.  I will say it was way better for me the 2nd time around, perhaps I was prepared or perhaps it had to do with pushing for 10 mins. as opposed to 2.5 hours!

*Lack of sleep, damn!  I mean, you know about this, people tell you about this and you've already done it, but I don't think you fully remember until it's here all over again.  Oh and nap when the baby naps!  ha....only the 1st time around, people.  No napping with a toddler!

*Breastfeeding- I would consider myself a pretty good breast feeder the 1st time around and even made it to a year, but you forget about the 1st couple of weeks and not only the pain/uncomfortableness?? but you forget you have to teach your baby how to do it, how to hold his hands and how not to miss and how to latch, etc.

*The laundry!  ha, I have recently been asking myself how 3 people can make so many clothes and dirty and why laundry is neverending.  Enter:  Ezra.  Are you kidding?  I wish I had taken a picture of our 1st night and the laundry he created.  I am not really sure why, the problems seems to have fixed itself, but every.single.time. the 1st night Ezra was in his bassinet when he peed, he peed through his clothes, swaddle and sheet.....once again, awesome! 

*The gear/diaperbag!- Our house looks like Graco blew up in it.  We already looked like we were buying stock in Fisher Price but had recently gotten Gage's toys under control and they didn't seem to take up the living room anymore.  Or maybe, we were just used to it.  But now, add pack n play, swing, car seat, bassinet, Boppy to the mix, and we can't even move in here!  And after about a year of not carrying a diaper bag and throwing little things/change of clothes in your purse, now when you go places, you have take a bag?!?  With diapers, and ointment and burpies and Nuk's and a change of clothes and a changing pad, etc, etc.  It's truly crazy that I forgot I ever had to lug all of that around.

*No one told me that when I got home from the hospital after spending 48 hours with a teensy tiny newborn baby that my 2.5 year old baby at home would seem HUGE.  His head, his hands, picking him up,etc.  It was literally crazy how it seemed he grew overnight.  I mean, Gage is a peanut and he all of a sudden looked SO BIG.

*Not many people will admit that no matter how old your oldest is, it is very difficult to give both children the time/attention they deserve and that at times you'll feel guilty about leaving your baby in a swing for a few minutes longer than you normally would or telling your toddler that you can't do something because you are feeding their baby brother.  It definitely takes some getting used to and every day won't be easy.  I'm sure we'll adjust soon.

These are just a few, I'm sure there are plenty of other things that could go on this list.  Do you have any others to add?  I'd love to hear them!

Perfect..

Not sure I'll get around to a decent blog post today, but if you have a second, you gotta check out this one.  Credit goes to Paper Mama for posting this this morning.  But since you can't repost like FB, etc., I thought I'd throw out a link, too.  It really makes you think.

First Weight Check

Ezra came home from the hospital with a little jaundice. The doctors didn't seem overly concerned but sent us in to see the pediatrician on Saturday anyway, just to make sure no further testing needed to be done.  When we left the hospital, he seemed to be a little behind on the elimination front.  I fed him constantly, but maybe because my  milk wasn't fully in, he wasn't peeing as much as he should've been.  Regardless, things have changed quite a bit since we've been home and he's now peeing/pooping like a breastfed champ.  Also peeing on himself, but that's another whole issue.

In any case, Saturday, they determined there was no additional testing needed, but to bring him back this week for a weight check just to be sure he was getting the nutrition that he needed.  Since Saturday it has been obvious that my milk has come in and that he is getting lots of it.  As much as he wants to be fed, if he wasn't gaining weight, something was seriously wrong.  Today at his weigh in, I was hoping for him to be back to his birth weight, although they give breastfed babies up to 2 weeks.  (Gage was back at his birth weight at his 4 day checkup, so we were hoping for the same success with Ezra.)  We were so proud that Ezra weighed in today 14 ounces! more than Sat.  He has gained almost a pound in 5 days.  He is now 7lbs. 12 oz. and as healthy as can be.  Wonder if he'll be an 8lb baby by his 2 week check up!  Gage was 9lbs. at a little over 2 weeks....crazy he's such a peanut now!

Congratulations!

We want to congratulate her parents and welcome a new niece to our family!  Luke's sister and husband welcomed  Sloane Allena into the world yesterday, just a week after Ezra.  She is such a teeny girl, a whole pound lighter than Ezra.  Congrats Ann and Mark!  You're in for quite the ride!

Wordless Wednesday: Our New Addition

I adore the hair!

Talk about a family portrait!  Good thing I fixed my hair!  But hey, it's the 1st one of the 4 of us.

Proud Papa.

Ezra's Birth Story

I never got the chance to write a birth story for Gage, I didn't know you were supposed to do that kind of thing until I started to read others' on their blogs.  Gage's birth was pretty uneventful anyway and I remember most of the details so I'm happy with that.  But nevertheless, I'll jot down Ezra's birth story just for fun.

Because my pregnancy and birth, for the most part with Gage were so uneventful and I had Gage exactly on my due date, I didn't expect too much drama from Ezra's birth either.  I did expect maybe to go a day or 2 early but that was about it and the closer I was getting to his EDD and the more times at the doctor they were just like 'eh, you're pregnant', I was thinking that he might not actually make it here on time. 

Tuesday night around 6-7pm I started to feel kinda crampy.  Now mind you, I really didn't even know what contractions felt like since my water broke with Gage hours before I even had any.  However, as the cramping started in my back, I started to realize that that's what I remember feeling in the hospital with Gage. I guess it's what most people refer to as back labor.  I never seem to get cramps anyway in the front, so when my back started to hurt and what seemed like in waves and just every now and then, it occurred to me, these might be contractions.  In fact, I went to a friend's house to drop something off for work and told her I was going to have a baby the next day.  At that point I wasn't sure anything was happening or if it was BH (since I never had those either) or what?  Anyway, we continued to go along with our nightly routine.  We cleaned, ate dinner, etc. although I kept thinking 'if this is really it, are we ready?', 'do we have everything together we need?, etc'.  I think I threw some extra stuff in my hospital bag as well.  I went to bed around 11pm and got about an hour and a half of sleep before the contractions woke me up and I started to time them.  Fortunately, I had downloaded a silly little contraction counter app since I was trying to sleep through half of them and it really is hard to time them from beginning to beginning without trying too hard.  Anyway, my doctor had said with the 2nd baby to make sure I called when I was having contractions 5 mins. apart for an hour.  I got scared when I realized some were already 5 mins apart.  However, then, some were like 15 mins. apart.  I couldn't sleep anymore, so I headed downstairs to watch the 17 innning game that the O's happened to be playing to distract me.  About 3am the contractions actually seemed to be getting farther apart, however, then I realized I was bleeding a little.  Was this what they call the 'bloody show'?  Who knows?  You'd think I'd never been pregnant before.  Anyway, since my contractions were slowing down some it seemed, I decided just to try to rest the best I could (after the 5.5 hour O's game). I was hoping to last until the morning, I really didn't want to call my friend that was on call in the middle of the night if I wasn't sure this was gonna happen. 

After calling the hospital at about 445am, they told me it'd be best if I came in so they could see what was going on.  They said it so nonchalantly like it was 2 in the afternoon.  I mean, sure, just come on over, don't worry about finding somewhere for your 3 year old to go.  Just bring him with you!  Anyway, we held off as long as we could and called our friend at about 5am to say we were bringing Gage over. 

We arrived at the hospital at 6am and checked in.  They hooked me up to the monitor and checked me.  I was about 3cm and the bleeding was under control. They monitored the baby and I for a while and then asked me what I wanted to do.  They wanted to give me potocin and break my water.  I didn't want either of those things to happen, so I told them I'd rather wait.  They certainly weren't gonna let me sit around in the hospital all day taking up an L&D room so they said if I wanted I could go home and to come back when I was ready.  The said the baby would definitely be here within 24 hours either way.  The contractions weren't any worse and I figured if I was going to stare at the wall, I might as well do so at home instead of at the hospital.  Plus, I was pretty damn hungry and I knew they weren't gonna let me eat.  Seconds before the nurse was unhooking me Ezra's heart beat tanked a little.  It had done it twice before in the couple of hours I was there, but they didn't seem too concerned.  I could immediately tell from the look on the nurse's face that she didn't like the situation.  I said to her, 'you don't think I should go home, do you?'  She said, 'until that 2nd I would've said yes, but you have a healthy baby here, no point taking any chances'.  She asked how I felt about taking laps to see if it would progress labor any farther.  I said, yes, anything to keep from being 'induced' or my labor being sped up.  So we walked- in circles- for an hour!  Nothing was happening, I could tell the contractions weren't getting any stronger and I probably wasn't dilating anymore.  Sure enough, it really didn't do all that much.  Following that the doctor, again, suggested that he speed up labor.  He said they were going to break my water and administer potocin.  I agreed to them breaking my water but told him I'd really like to see what happened after that before taking anything else.  Fair enough.  At 1015am they broke my water and I got used to the fact that I was going to have a baby that day.  I texted everyone to let them know that Gage was going to be a big brother very soon.  The next couple of hours went by pretty quickly, I think, just about as quickly as labor can go.  I was 6cm before I knew it and requested my epidural, which ended up hurting way more than I remember and making me shake like crazy.  It numbed me too much and I didn't think I'd ever be able to push.  I think that my epi with Gage was like as perfect as it could be.  Anyway, that was about 1230pm and I desperately asked the nurse if I'd have this baby by 2pm.  She said, eh, but definitely by 3pm.  I explained to her last time I was told, 'oh he's so low, you're gonna have this baby in like a half hour, blah, blah' and I pushed for over 2 hours.  She said that wouldn't be the case today.  So after another hour and a half and about 8 pushes later, Ezra Jude easily entered the world and was given directly to me to snuggle and cuddle!  I made my 2pm prediciton!  hah...exactly.  No complaining here, start to finish- a little over 12 hours and only 8 hours in the hospital before baby.  (Gage was 11 hours start to finish and 9 hours in the hospital).  All in all, not a bad experience, but just a little different than with Gage.  I should count myself lucky though that all went pretty much as planned. 

Whew!  That was a lot longer than I expected and now if you're not bored and still with me, there you have it- the entrance of this little guy into the world! 

He is here,he is here!

This is probably my tenth time or so trying to announce Ezra's arrival via my blog since last Wed. pm.  However, the hospital we were at had zero Internet service and the 1st few days home have been a blur. I sat down last night to go through pictures and put together a post and my top of the line computer, of course over heated and crashed. Par for the course. All of my faithful blog readers (yeah, right) have been anxiously awaiting the news and have gotten nothing!   ha....so nevertheless.

Formally introducing:

Ezra Jude Itnyre

born Sept 19, 2012

2pm

7lbs, 6oz.



There's so much to write about and to share. I'd like to do a post on his birth story and our first couple of days home, but currently I have a to-do list a mile long. Isn't it funny that the 1st time all you have to do is sit around and snuggle your newborn baby and this time there seems like there's SO much to do.  Don't get me wrong, we've had plenty of snuggle time but there are just other things, etc.  I will say trying to spend as much time with Gage has been hard, but every day gets easier with a newborn and he won't get his feelings hurt as easy, so we'll figure out a good routine. I have more pictures to post but none of both my boys together, since Gage is.not.interested. at all.  I am sad to say I don't have that kid we can say, 'oh we were so worried about how he'd react and he's awesome'.........nope, the reality is, his world has been rocked.  More to come....



Happy Birthday Grandiddy!

Today marks the day after I was supposed to have my baby and the weekend we go home every year to celebrate my Dad's birthday.  Not sure where I am at this point....hospital, just bringing home a new baby, still waiting, etc. but I can't not write my last birthday post of the month!  My Dad is 65 today and I think this year he got a pretty damn good birthday present, a new Grandson!  Happy Birthday Dad!  Enjoy!  And thanks for watching Gage while we're busy with #2.  Sad this is the most recent picture I have of the 2 of them.  We'll have to do something about this soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Gage's 1st Peanut Butter Sandwich

September 19, 2011

Update: 39 weeks

And the time is now....only 4 days away from my due date.  Not sure how I was feeling at this time last time around, but probably not quite as anxious as I am today.  Gage came exactly on his due date and I'm feeling this little guy  might do the same, although the whole time I expected him early.  What are the odds though if I actually have 2 babies on their due date, should I play the lottery or something?? 

How far along: 39 weeks 3 days

Total weight gain: down a lb. this week (I lost 2 the week I had Gage)  That makes the grand total 33lbs.

Stretch marks: Just a few:(, lame!

Sleep: Eh, my hips are killing me again.  At least I don't have to work every day and can take naps if need be.

Cravings:  Don't ask me why, but Olive Garden soup and salad and I'm going Thurs. night if I'm still pregnant!

Best moment this week:  hmm....my last day of work for 2 months? the weather?  can't decide.

Gender: BOY!

Name progress: Definitely have a 1st name. Pretty sure we have a middle name....yes, I think so....

Labor signs: Not yet....doc says I'm 1cm, 80% effaced, blah blah, same exact thing with Gage at this time.  Maybe a few BH on Saturday, but obviously nothing to write home about.

Bellybutton in or out: OMG, out! I don't think my belly button was ever out w/ Gage!

What I miss: Finally over the whole maternity clothes thing, I want to buy some new cute clothes!

What I am looking forward to: Having this darn baby!

Milestones:  Not a clue, I'm telling you, what goes here??  Next week if I haven't had him then I'll be more pregnant than I ever have been....so there, that's a milestone.

Gage's Big Boy Room/ Baby It's Nursery

This post has been in the works for quite a while....since June to be exact.  We started working on Gage's big boy room at the beginning of the summer.  We bought him a big boy bed and he decided on superheros as his theme. We knew it would take a while to evolve, but we didn't quite know how long.  It hasn't exactly been 3 months in the making, but blogging about it has taken that long.  Plus we did pieces of Gage's room at a time.  We found the furniture, then the bedding.  Then we found prints for his room and I worked on redoing his letters.  Then we finally found curtains that we liked and finally a border and we still are painting shelves, looking for a rug and Luke wants to get black fan blades to match everything else....so yes, actually, maybe it is taking 3 months....but we are getting there, darn it!  Anyway, here is the 'big reveal' so to speak.  And it's not even done yet....but done enough we can show it off.

We found these on Etsy and we think they're pretty sweet, they set the colors for the rest of the room.

Yeah, the Hokie bird pillow is kinda out of place

Picked this up in Annapolis while on our Anniversary trip- Gage now LOVES money.

Had one of these as a kid and loved it, Gage had way too many stuffed animals laying around, so it works.  And maybe we can pretend it's a spider web??

We also have gotten most of the baby's room together, being that we have 6 days and all.  We chose the bedding long ago and really loved the dinosaurs.  Why I don't have a picture of the quilt right now I'm not sure, but there will be more to come.  As you can see the curtains and wall hangings are done, but my Mom has bought us other goodies to go in the room that won't be here 'til the baby comes.  Plus the wall letters revealing his name won't be around 'til next week either.  So for now, here's a sneak peek, I guess.

Happy Birthday Heather! (AKA Super Mom)

I think it's just crazy how many people I know that have birthdays in September and now that I'll have one of those little people, people are always telling me their birthdays in case he's born on their special day.  Today is my Internet friend Heather's birthday.  Her blog is Life with the Ardies and now that she's not playing SuperMom 24/7 anymore she has a little more time to catch you up on her beautiful family and little girl.  I just want to pick BabyGirl  and up and squeeze her.  I am a little jealous of her though, running in her 1st 5K before me, but being that I'm 38 weeks pregnant I guess I have some excuse.  In any case, head on over and wish her a Happy Birthday and congratulate her on her 1st race!

Happy Birthday Addison!

Two days later and I have another birthday wish to send out.  Addison over at Life is Beautiful turns 3 today!  If you notice, all the kids I wish Happy Birthday to are so close to Gage's age.  At the beginning of my blogging career, I was attracted to any and all blogs with kids the same age as Gage- I thought it would be fun to follow along with kids near his age and here I am 3 years later.  Life is Beautiful is a brutally honest blog of a teacher (like me) who is Mom to 2 kids.  She'll tell you like it is and also share pictures of her beautiful family.  She also has a foodie blog worth checking out.  Head on over and wish Addison a Happy 3rd!

Update: 38 Weeks

Ok, this is for real now, the countdown has begun.  8 days from today is my due date and I have every confidence he'll be here at least in the next 3weeks.

How far along: 38 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain: 34 lbs.- 35 is the most I gained with Gage.  Does that mean I'll be bigger this time around, or it's almost go time?

Stretch marks: Just a few:(, lame!

Sleep:  A little better actually, good thing since it'll come to an end pretty quickly yet.

Cravings: I just want a cold Subway sandwich and a Dr. Pepper, is that too much to ask??

Best moment this week:  Having only 2 more days of work and spending all the time possible I can with Gage before the new baby arrives!

Gender: BOY!

Name progress: Definitely have a 1st name. I cannot commit to a middle name and I have no idea why! I think it'll be a game time decision.  However, the deal was long ago that if the O's ever won the World Series or were in 1st place when the baby was born, he could be named after one of them.......Reynolds might end up being the middle name!  ha.....at least you might get this reference, Kerri.

Labor signs: Not yet....doc says I'm 1cm, 70% effaced, blah blah, same exact thing with Gage at this time

Bellybutton in or out: OMG, out! I don't think my belly button was ever out w/ Gage!

What I miss:  the occasional beer and glass of wine AND Dr. Pepper

What I am looking forward to: Meeting my baby and seeing what he looks like!

Milestones: I got nothing.....what do people write in this space anyway??

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's just about go time. I have just 1 more day of work (nuts!!) and then the waiting game begins. I'd love to have him about a week early so I don't waste my sick leave, but just like Gage I know he'll come when he is ready and I will be as patient as I can. 8 days is just crazy though!  We talked induction today with the doctor and just like Gage I want him to come without intervention.  I will go as long as they will  let me, last time it was only 10 days....so I guess if it comes to that, I'll have an October baby and not a September baby.....that's kinda nuts. Anyone know October's birthstone? Never even thought about that possibility!  It's opal, I have been told!  I like sapphires better.  He's got 18 days, I think he can make it.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

Just wanted to take a minute to wish Bryce over at The Life or Rylie....and Bryce,too! a very Happy 3rd Birthday.  LeeAnn has an awesome blog and I always love to read what her and her kids are up to.  Bryce is just a few months older than Gage so keeping up with his milestones, etc. is always fun, too.  LeeAnn also has great weekly memes, helpful reiews and plenty of pictures of her kids, so head on over, check out her blog and wish Bryce a Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Patriot Day

Please take a moment today to remember that day 11 years ago and to say a prayer for the families whose lives were forever changed.  It's crazy to me that the kids I teach today were between 3-7 years old and completely oblivious when the events of 9/11 took place.  Never forget.

Happy Birthday Madison!

Once again we would like to wish our other niece, Madison, a very Happy Birthday.  It's a special one today, Happy Sweet 16 Maddy!  Again, too bad we don't have any more recent pictures.  This one from last October is the newest one we have!

Wordless Wednesday: A Look Back at 2 years ago today

This was one of the last times Gage fell asleep on me after eating.

Update: 37 weeks

I seriously cannot believe I have only 2.5 weeks left of this pregnancy and 8 more days of work!  I have a feeling it's going to go by super fast.  Kind of not upset not to go back to work 'til after Thanksgiving;).

How far along: 37 weeks 4 days

Total weight gain: 34 lbs.

Stretch marks: Just a few:(

Sleep: Yes, please- I have been exhausted since I started back to work last week.....hmmm, pretty sure that won't change for the next 6 months

Cravings: soda and cookies and like last time, Subway sandwiches

Best moment this week: finally feeling like we're ready, by getting last min. stuff done, pack n plays up, car seat in, etc.
Gender: BOY!

Name progress: Definitely have a 1st name. I cannot commit to a middle name and I have no idea why!  I think it'll be a game time decision.

Labor signs: Not yet, dr. says my body is doing what it's supposed to do.....

Bellybutton in or out: OMG, out! I don't think my belly button was ever out w/ Gage!

What I miss: sleep and being pain free

What I am looking forward to:  Meeting my baby!
Milestones:  Less than 20 days!  I am so bad at milestones, geez....

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's just about go time.  I have 8 more days of work and then the waiting game begins. I'd love to have him about a week early so I don't waste my sick leave, but just like Gage I know he'll come when he is ready and I will be as patitent as I can.  17 days is just crazy though! 

Here are my sad attempts at iPhone photos, I swear I will never understand why people think it takes such great pictures.  Everyone else seems to be able to pull it off, but not this girl.