Trying to Keep Posting

So I'm trying to keep posting on this blog and I think I'll get better, it's just a little overwhelming with a new baby, toddler, house guests, lack of sleep, etc. When I think about blogging, I think, "Where do I begin?"

Basically things are going really great. My recovery from the delivery went great, getting settled in with nursing again, dealing with lack of sleep and trying to take naps in spare daytime hours, etc has all gone really well, I must say. It IS easier the second go around in many ways, however, it's so much more difficult with juggling two little ones instead of one. Especially in the evening when my husband works and I have to do dinner, bathtime and bedtimes alone. I'm managing it pretty well and it seems every evening is different. Sometimes I can get the baby to sleep before Matthew and then I can focus just on Matthew and sometimes I'm in Matthew's room trying to put him down while nursing the baby to sleep as well. Julian (the baby...who is 4 weeks old today btw) doesn't have a real schedule yet so it's hit or miss if he'll be awake while I'm putting Matthew down. It IS really nice to get the baby down later rather than earlier though in order to have time to go to bed myself instead of him waking up when I'm about to go to bed. Julian usually sleeps about 3-4 hours (usually 3) before waking to eat so I got him down tonight about 9:20pm so I have until about 12:30pm or later until he wakes up. I will probably get in bed about 11pm so hopefully I'll get about an hour and a half of sleep until I'm "on duty" again :) There's never a dull moment, hahaha.

Dani and I took Matthew and Julian (Julian's first road trip!) to the beach where my mother and her husband have rented a house for a few nights. We just did a daytrip but it was nice. Matthew had a blast as usual and Julian and I just tried to stay out of the sun most of the time. Here's a picture of our two beautiful boys passed out in the car...

Matthew was totally in the sun, poor thing, but earlier it had been on my side, so it wasn't the whole time. We're going back to the beach tomorrow but instead of with my husband I'll be going with my best friend so I'm not driving there alone.

Matthew is doing super well with Julian....he's very sweet, tries to hold his hand, pats and rubs his head, kisses his chest, belly and head and even lets Julian lay in his bed a little while he's watching his disney videos before bedtime.

The Last Two Weeks

What in the world have I been doing for the last two weeks???? I haven't done much but it seems I've been really busy.  In the last two weeks, I've only gone out in the car twice, once to the grocery store and once to the hospital for Julian to get his heel pricked. By the way, Julian was asleep when they took blood from his heel and didn't even notice :) I've walked one block to the corner store a few times but other than that and my two trips in the car, I haven't even left the house to go any farther than the backyard. This may sound like a miserable time to some but it has actually been really great and relaxing, just getting to know my new little bundle of joy.

Family members have basically come and gotten Matthew (or Dani has taken him out as well) every single day and many times he's gone from 10am until 6 or 7pm. They take him and play at different people's houses, birthday parties, jumping on trampolines or inflatable castles, to the park, to a farm to ride horses, to do errands, on a boat tour (he's going tomorrow) and even to mass one evening. Matthew is out and about all over this town and he's having a really great time. He's getting much closer to the family and even taking his afternoon naps at other houses. It's been really great for him, I think. It's been great for me too even though I miss him sometimes and wonder what time they're bringing him back every day. With him out having fun, I've been able to keep up with my sleep, nurse Julian whenever he needs it, get some things done in the house, stay showered and decently groomed and help Julian through his bouts (sometimes 3-4 hours) of reflux pain and gases. On average I get 3-5 hours of sleep per night and this way I've been able to get 1-3 hours of sleep in the late morning or afternoon so I don't feel so deprived of sleep.

Poor Julian really suffers from reflux and gas pains a lot. He just wrinkles up his face, turns red and screams out in pain while contorting his body into all kinds of positions. I feel so bad for him. There's no ONE position that helps him. Sometimes it's on his stomach, sometimes upright on my shoulder, sometimes in a sitting position. You just never know which one helps him when. Luckily we have some gas drops and also some drops for the reflux. Sometimes those seem like miracle drugs and sometimes they don't even seem to help at all. I hear that this can last until he's 6 or 7 months old unfortunately. Matthew hardly ever even spit up so I'm definitely not used to this at all. I think if I just stay on top of the meds and don't allow lapses of time where he's not under the influence of them, it'll help. I just hope I don't have to give these things to him 3 times a day for months on end. I don't like the idea of using meds for that long but I really can't stand to see him in such pain. Hopefully after his body grows and develops a little more, I won't have to use them as often.

So that's pretty much what's been going on with me in the last two weeks. My mom and her husband are coming in 4 days and we're getting really excited about having them here. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.

He's Finally Here!

A week ago today, (yes, I started this 2 days ago) our little man, William Julian finally entered the world! Last Monday, December 26th, I woke up around 6:30am dying to pee as usual (sorry but prego women have to pee all the time and it's usually pretty uncomfortable when you wake up). As I went to the bathroom, I felt a little crampy (like menstrual which I hadn't felt in 9 months so it was kind of a surprise) but instead of getting too excited (since I remember that feeling in the early, early stages of labor with Matthew), I just chalked it up to having a full bladder and a very full belly. Dani had to go into work at 7am so he was just getting up and about to head out and I told him how I felt but that it was probably nothing. He mentioned that today we could go see the OBGYN who had told us that we could do another ultrasound to see just how big this baby was getting. I said OK and he said he would call his mom to come take care of Matthew around 8am or so and then he would come home and pick me up and take me to the hospital. My MIL arrived around 8:15am and I was feeling more and more crampy but couldn't tell if the pains were coming and going contraction-like in a timely manner or just cramps that lingered on and on. When she arrived I didn't tell her much about the crampiness because I knew she would rush me off the hospital quicker than I wanted to and if I really was beginning labor, I wanted to hang at the house as long as possible, make some calls and send some last minute emails. I told her I was going to make some calls and since she doesn't speak English, she didn't catch on to anything I was really saying. I called Dani and asked when he could come get me and the first time he was so busy, he didn't even answer. It's kinda hard to get a break to go pick up your wife when you work in the ER and he never has a minute to do anything really. Finally I got in touch with him and he seemed so busy so I told him I could call his sister and see if she could give me a ride. By this time, I had started leaking amniotic fluid and was seeing some blood, I didn't think I should drive myself and I told him that. I didn't tell my MIL about the liquid and blood because she would stress me out but I told my sister in law when I got in the car and she got really excited.  It was about 9am and my sister in law was coming to get me as soon as she showered and got ready. We arrived at the hospital about 9:30am.

We found Dani and located the OBGYN and he did the ultrasound and said the baby looked as though it was weighing in around 8.5 pounds (could be a pound more or less, it's not exact) but he couldn't get the size of the head since it was already down (and kinda squished) into the birth canal. In fact, because of that, the ultrasound said I was only 38 weeks along since it wasn't able to measure the body parts appropriately. I was actually 40 weeks and 3 days (3 days overdue). He said I was 3 cms and my water had broken. Since I was worried about having to get a c-section, he assured me that I had plenty of room for a big baby and that my pelvis was large (I was ecstatic about this news!). So, they got me checked in and I went into the labor and delivery area where I was in labor from about 10:30am until the baby was born at 1:27pm. It was a fairly quick labor and delivery and it seems like every time they checked me I was another cm along and progressing. When Dani left me there (since he had to go back to work for a while), he told the OB nurses that I have kind of fast labors but I don't think they really believed him much. They did after seeing me in there for a while though. Finally I was just at about 10 cms and it was time to go into the actual delivery room and deliver but the nurse couldn't get in touch with Dani. They called his cell several times but there was no answer. Then I heard the phone ring at the nurses station desk and heard the nurse say, "yes, we've been calling and calling, you better come right this minute or you'll miss it". I had told the nurse a few minutes before that when they couldn't get a hold of him that if he wasn't here, that's ok, I was not going to try and "wait" for him. I was worried that they'd just tell me not to push and not to push yet because they were waiting on him (which is hard to do when your body wants to and it's much easier to just go with your body and not against it) and I wanted to make it clear that I was NOT going to wait. At least he had been there for the first baby but this time I knew what I was doing and I was really ready to get the baby out. Finally, once I was already in the delivery room and getting ready to push, Dani arrived.....8 minutes before Julian was born!

With a 9lb, 10 oz (a tad over 9 1/2 lbs), people ask if it was harder than with Matthew. Matthew was a little under 8 1/2 lbs and I guess it was a little harder but pretty much the same. What made this one hard was that one of the last contractions before he was out (I only really pushed through about 4-5 contractions to deliver, the same with Matthew), the contraction was over but Dani was kinda telling me what was going on which really motivated me to keep on pushing. He said that the head was coming and then it was halfway out and then the neck and then one of the shoulders and then the other shoulder and at that point, the baby just kinda comes on out without much effort. So he was telling me that during the last contraction and then the contraction was over but since the head and neck were coming, I kept on pushing without the contraction which is a lot harder. Basically it was just me and my non-existent stomach muscles trying to do the work, but I did it. Getting to the end like that and knowing I was about to meet my new little baby just motivated me to not stop and wait for another contraction. It was all very exciting!

Before they wheeled me back into the maternity ward and were filling out paperwork, etc, I was waiting on my bed and they let family members come in one at a time. Dani when out to get them and first Rolando came in, then Carolina, then Marjorie and then Sara (my MIL was with Matthew but she came later). I'm pretty sure it was that order but I know Rolando was the first to come in and I was surprised that he had won that battle to be first in with my sister in laws and niece. How he managed that, I'll never know. It was a very happy moment to see them and let them meet Julian for the first time and I had fun telling them how much he weighed because they could not BELIEVE that I had just given birth to that size of baby naturally. It's big, but it's even bigger for here since people here are smaller and most women giving birth to that size baby would have had to have a c-section. Who knew my pelvis was so big!?!??! I am so happy the way things turned out with the birth and our new little addition to our family. I couldn't be any more pleased! I will post some pictures as soon as I get some new ones.