Last week, the inevitable happened. Both boys got sick at the same time. One night, in particular, was difficult and had both D and me up quite a bit. And, of course, by the end of the week, I, too, got sick! Thankfully, this was a very mild cold for all of us. Only some runny noses and congestion and back to great health. I'd say Nicholas got better, fastest. I attribute that to the breastfeeding and all the immunities in there. I thought about sneaking some into Donovan's milk, but refrained. LOL Surprisingly, D didn't get sick. Usually he is the first because of his exposure at work.
I'll be glad when these elections are over. I get tired of the commercials, the attacks back and forth, etc. I've actually become much more interested in the election the last week or so. My Dad called and said he may be coming for a visit, but mostly to help with the election. Debates on online message boards has heated up and I have been finding lots of different blogs and websites I've never seen. Interesting to say the least.
I am saddened by the Stock Market and financial crisis we are in. I think it's difficult for a lot of people to understand the gist of what's going on and why banks would possibly need $700 billion. In my mind, although I don't trust any one politician much, I do need to trust the government, on the whole, to do what's best for the country. I am not an economist nor do I have access to all the information that they do, so I just have to trust that if they need that much to keep us afloat, there are much bigger problems than we even know! That's all I have to say about that.
And, if it weren't for an online board I frequent, I wouldn't even know about the North Carolina gas problem. I can't believe they are running out of gas! I don't get it. Truthfully, I haven't researched it very much, but I'm shocked that Texas still has gas but North Carolina doesn't when the problem was the TX refineries in the first place. Something is a little screwy. Anyway, people are having to get in line for 30+ minutes and then the gas station runs out of gas! Ugh! How frustrating!! Anyway, you can read more here: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/29/letter-to-any-politician-who-gives-a-you-know-what/
I'm not sure how I got off-track there, but I guess these things are big news right now. Thankfully, our family is doing well and so far only our retirement accounts have felt the credit crisis.
I'll be updating with Nicholas' 8 month and Donovan's 3 year information in the next couple of weeks. We are having a Diego-themed party for Donovan's birthday. He's been wanting a pinata, so we got 2, one Diego and one car. He still loves cars soooo much! :)
Okay, Monday's TV shows are coming on soon, so I'll close here. We watch Prison Break, Heroes and The Terminator. Yes, we watch a lot of TV. :p I wonder what everyone else watches...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Oh dear...disappeared again! Back with news!
I can't seem to get in a groove to update this more often. I think life with a husband, 2 boys, a full-time job and a new baby sleep website has me busier than ever! Yep! I started my own online business several months ago helping other parents with their baby's sleep problems. I guess you can say I'm also putting my MBA to work, but really I just have to thank my boys. If it weren't for Donovan having so many sleep problems and Nicholas needing me to hold him for 3+ hours each night when he was a newborn (he's a good sleeper now, though!), I wouldn't have this new website. :p I think my Type-A personality just needs to fill in every bit of my day, but ever since I could remember I wanted my own business and I've always wanted to help people, add in my love of being a mother and voila!
My new website is Pick Nick's Brain as in "pick my brain" and my name is Nicole or Nick, for short. ;-) I also have 2 sister sites, now. Baby Sleeps Well and Sleep Through Night purely to try to get search engine search results to my website and sell my e-Book. It is actually much trickier than I thought to have Google and Yahoo find your site and if you aren't on Pages 1 or 2, you may as well not be there at all because not many people click past those pages. It's been interesting, to say the least, to learn how to get people to your site when you have information you think can help them. The exciting part is in the last month I've had over 12,000 visitors and over 22,000 pages viewed on my site. Given Google didn't start finding me until sometime in July, that's not bad!! I really hope my site can help families get more rest. It is estimated that something like 12,000 babies are born every day in just the U.S. and a little less than 20% of them will have more difficult sleep problems. That's a lot of families I can help! Anyway, enough about this, let's get to what this blog is really for! My family updates.
Nicholas is now 7 months old, already! Hard to believe I started this blog as a pregnancy journal and now he is getting so big! Literally! At his appointment, he was 20 pounds, 12 ounces. By the time Donovan was this weight, he was walking and over a year old. It's the same milk, so I don't know what's going on. ;-) Because of his weight, he's not rolling yet, but sits up nicely. He's such a happy baby and is such a treasure.
Donovan is going to be 3 next month! I can't believe it. I look at both boys and am in awe how quickly they change. Donovan is no longer a baby, no longer a toddler, but a little boy! I look at pictures and am just amazed how quickly he is growing up. Terrible Two's has had it's really frustrating moments, but I do think things are settling down a bit. He is such a sweetheart a lot of the time. Lately, he just loves to tell me how much he "wuvs" me and it's so sweet. I love it! He is also getting to be so polite with his "No thank you" and "Yes please" responses. He's still soooo much into his cars, but they helped him get fully potty trained in about a month, so he's going strong there!
I'm still working at home, even more now that I'm trying to build my business. It's exciting!! Most importantly, I love helping people, even if I don't get to retire from it.
The boys are loving their nanny and we love her, too. It is such a blessing that I can work at home and see the boys during the day. It is so special to me that I can watch them a little bit more than if I had to commute and work in an office outside the home. I feel very fortunate. The boys love their nanny, so I can go to work in peace and know that they are well taken care of.
Donnell just went back to school last week, but enjoyed his summer getting his aquariums in good shape. He has one saltwater one and one freshwater. No babies in quite awhile, though. I'm looking forward to our date on Saturday. We have a new arrangement with our neighbor friends to take turns with date nights and swap babysitting after the kids are in bed for an easy night for everyone, with little guilt and less worry. It's great that we have that!
Well, I will close for tonight. I'm going to really try to update this more often. I feel like I'm missing out on documenting some special moments with the boys. I better fix that.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Woah! I'm back!
Goodness gracious! It's been a long time since I've posted! I guess I've been busy busy! I guess I better update. :)
Nicholas is now 4 months old, yesterday! My, how time flies! He is such a cutie and such a happy baby. It's wonderful! I am LOVING the baby stage. I love love love cuddling him and watching him grow. I think I am able to enjoy the baby stage a little more this time because I'm not as nervous as when I was a first-time mom. :) It definitely helps that he's been a much better sleeper than his older brother!
Here are a couple recent pictures:
Donovan is a great big brother! He hasn't been nearly as jealous as I thought he'd be. There have been a couple things here and there, but overall he gives him lots of kisses and has welcomed Nicholas to the family. Donovan has really started talking A LOT! Sometimes too much. LOL! He is getting very good at using his words, but we are stillllll in that "no" phase, which can drive you a little batty. More than that he's in an "opposite" phase, if there's such a thing. I will give you an example.
Mommy: "It's a nice day today."
Donovan: "It's NOT a nice day today."
Mommy: "Do you want the red cup?"
Donovan: "No, the blue cup."
Mommy: "I'm tired."
Donovan: "Mommy is NOT tired."
LOL! Repeat 100x per day and it can drive you a little batty, ok? :-D
But, it's really cool to watch his vocabulary grow and to have lengthy conversations with him, so I can only complain so much. Here are a few pics of him:
I love love love being a mom and love our little family. We are stopping at 2 kids, so I'm trying to enjoy these stages as much as possible, since I know we won't be repeating. In a lot of ways, that's a good thing! ;-)
Donnell is doing well and just finished another school year, which means he's home for the summer. This is great for him, but it's hard on me since I work at home and get to watch him take 2 1/2 months off. Phew! Give me strength to stay focused! I'm sure he will fully enjoy his time off. Having 2 kids sure is a lot of work!!
As for me, I'm doing well. Nicholas gets up 1-2 times per night, still, so I can be pretty tired, at times, and it's downright BRUTAL when both kids get up! I've been working on a new side business in my "spare time", which has been a lot of fun (more on that later). Other than that, I'm just being a wife, mom, and working about 30-40 hours per week still as a computer programmer. :)
Oh we just had a 60th surprise party for my mother-in-law, so I better include some pictures of that. It was a lot of fun! We are also looking forward to my Dad and Stepmom coming for a visit to meet Nicholas and spend time with us and their other grandson, of course. It should be great fun! I hope it's not too humid because that's usually hard on California folks. LOL!
Bye for now!
Nicole
Nicholas is now 4 months old, yesterday! My, how time flies! He is such a cutie and such a happy baby. It's wonderful! I am LOVING the baby stage. I love love love cuddling him and watching him grow. I think I am able to enjoy the baby stage a little more this time because I'm not as nervous as when I was a first-time mom. :) It definitely helps that he's been a much better sleeper than his older brother!
Here are a couple recent pictures:
Donovan is a great big brother! He hasn't been nearly as jealous as I thought he'd be. There have been a couple things here and there, but overall he gives him lots of kisses and has welcomed Nicholas to the family. Donovan has really started talking A LOT! Sometimes too much. LOL! He is getting very good at using his words, but we are stillllll in that "no" phase, which can drive you a little batty. More than that he's in an "opposite" phase, if there's such a thing. I will give you an example.
Mommy: "It's a nice day today."
Donovan: "It's NOT a nice day today."
Mommy: "Do you want the red cup?"
Donovan: "No, the blue cup."
Mommy: "I'm tired."
Donovan: "Mommy is NOT tired."
LOL! Repeat 100x per day and it can drive you a little batty, ok? :-D
But, it's really cool to watch his vocabulary grow and to have lengthy conversations with him, so I can only complain so much. Here are a few pics of him:
I love love love being a mom and love our little family. We are stopping at 2 kids, so I'm trying to enjoy these stages as much as possible, since I know we won't be repeating. In a lot of ways, that's a good thing! ;-)
Donnell is doing well and just finished another school year, which means he's home for the summer. This is great for him, but it's hard on me since I work at home and get to watch him take 2 1/2 months off. Phew! Give me strength to stay focused! I'm sure he will fully enjoy his time off. Having 2 kids sure is a lot of work!!
As for me, I'm doing well. Nicholas gets up 1-2 times per night, still, so I can be pretty tired, at times, and it's downright BRUTAL when both kids get up! I've been working on a new side business in my "spare time", which has been a lot of fun (more on that later). Other than that, I'm just being a wife, mom, and working about 30-40 hours per week still as a computer programmer. :)
Oh we just had a 60th surprise party for my mother-in-law, so I better include some pictures of that. It was a lot of fun! We are also looking forward to my Dad and Stepmom coming for a visit to meet Nicholas and spend time with us and their other grandson, of course. It should be great fun! I hope it's not too humid because that's usually hard on California folks. LOL!
Bye for now!
Nicole
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
What a sweet big brother
It's just too sweet not to share. Today, Nicholas woke up from his nap and started to cry. Donovan, unprompted, walked over to his crib and started singing Frere Jacques to him. How sweet is that?!? It was just soooo precious! He also was so gentle with him today and gave him lots of kisses and tickles his own hands with Nicholas' hair and says "tickle tickle". LOL
It was such a good day today. I was worried Donovan would react negatively to Donnell going back to work, but he's been adjusting just fine. I am not sure if it will quite be the same when I go back to work, though. I plan to go back part-time next week or the following Monday, but plan to leave for shorter stints leading up to that to get him used to going back to his normal routine. I hope it goes well. :)
It was such a good day today. I was worried Donovan would react negatively to Donnell going back to work, but he's been adjusting just fine. I am not sure if it will quite be the same when I go back to work, though. I plan to go back part-time next week or the following Monday, but plan to leave for shorter stints leading up to that to get him used to going back to his normal routine. I hope it goes well. :)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Our new family
The transition with Donovan is going well with our new baby, Nicholas. He isn't nearly as jealous as I thought he'd be, but Donny and his nanny have been here so between all of us we've been able to give him a lot of attention. Donny is going back to work on Monday, though, and slowly I'm going to have to start leaving him a bit more to prepare him for me going back to work and then yet another transition so he is spending time with nanny and baby all at once. I am planning to go back to work part-time in a couple weeks and then work my way up to full time again. We'll see how it goes. I'm planning to start a bottle with Nicholas once a day next week, in preparation.
Having the 2nd child is soooo much easier than I thought (so far)! Well, I mean it's not like he's up that much yet, but it just feels so natural nursing Nicholas while playing with Donovan and his cars, for example. "Sharing" my time isn't as hard as I thought...so far anyway. It feels good and I'm really enjoying it...minus the sleep deprivation, of course. :-p
I'm getting nervous that Nicholas is going to be just as challenging of a sleeper as Donovan! D'oh! I know it's early since he's only 2 weeks old, but already he needs to be held pretty much all day for naps (Donovan did not), I'm sleeping on the couch with him b/c he hates the bassinet but sleeps OK in the PNP in the family room, and he had a rough rough 4-6am this morning, where he was tired, but couldn't sleep (can you say Donovan?). I was sooo exhausted! But, I did get a good nap in for me today, so I feel prepared for tonight. On the flip side, he has re-settled himself going through sleep transitions, something I don't remember Donovan ever doing and he has already given me one 3 hour 45 min stretch (last night) which took Donovan months to do. Sooooo...the jury is still out. I'm scared, but at least this time I do know there is an end to the sleep problems as Donovan is a good sleeper now. :-)
Having the 2nd child is soooo much easier than I thought (so far)! Well, I mean it's not like he's up that much yet, but it just feels so natural nursing Nicholas while playing with Donovan and his cars, for example. "Sharing" my time isn't as hard as I thought...so far anyway. It feels good and I'm really enjoying it...minus the sleep deprivation, of course. :-p
I'm getting nervous that Nicholas is going to be just as challenging of a sleeper as Donovan! D'oh! I know it's early since he's only 2 weeks old, but already he needs to be held pretty much all day for naps (Donovan did not), I'm sleeping on the couch with him b/c he hates the bassinet but sleeps OK in the PNP in the family room, and he had a rough rough 4-6am this morning, where he was tired, but couldn't sleep (can you say Donovan?). I was sooo exhausted! But, I did get a good nap in for me today, so I feel prepared for tonight. On the flip side, he has re-settled himself going through sleep transitions, something I don't remember Donovan ever doing and he has already given me one 3 hour 45 min stretch (last night) which took Donovan months to do. Sooooo...the jury is still out. I'm scared, but at least this time I do know there is an end to the sleep problems as Donovan is a good sleeper now. :-)
He finally made his appearance!
Here is Nicholas' birth story from 2/15. I'll update how we're doing in the next post. BTW, I changed the spelling of his name at the last minute (that's what happens when you go past your due date...you think too much...haha!). I figured it was annoying when people add an "H" to my name and given "Nicholas" is most often spelled with an "H" that I would doom him to correcting people too often. I saved him from that mild ongoing annoyance. :-)
Nicholas was 2 days late compared to his estimated due date and I was very anxious for him to come out at this point. I had been having strong Braxton Hicks contractions for days, but nothing became regular or led to anything. And, on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at just around midnight exactly, only about 30 minutes after I went to sleep for the night, I started having contractions again. Only this time they felt different and pretty strong. After the 3rd one that felt pretty close to the last ones, I woke Donnell to start timing them. I don’t think he believed me that I thought I was in labor because he kept dozing off. At first the contractions were pretty far apart (12-14 minutes) and we weren’t supposed to call the doctor until they were 7-8 minutes apart for one hour. By 1:10 a.m. we had our first contraction that was only 7 ½ minutes from the last. I think Donnell finally started to believe this could happen tonight. Haha! With the birth of Donovan, our one dog, Ringo, sensed what was happening and started acting funny, but not this time. For the next hour the contractions varied from 7 ½ to 9 minutes apart and we called the doctor, who told us to go ahead and make our way to the hospital.
After calling a couple of people and waiting for his nanny, Jeri Sue, to come over to care for Donovan, we headed to the hospital. It was around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. when we were settled into our labor and delivery room. They checked my progress and I was only 3 cm dilated at the time. Around 5:30 a.m. I was having a lot more trouble coping with the contractions. Each one wasn’t too bad, but when they come every 5 minutes, it gets very tiresome, so I asked for an epidural. We were also waiting for them to come in and break my water to progress things along. I asked them to check my progress once more before the epidural and I was 5 cm dilated. Around 6:15 a.m. the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural. This part was troubling. He tried THREE times to get the epidural in. THREE! Maybe that would not have been too bad, except he never got it right! It was painful and worrisome to have someone poking my back so many times to relieve the pain all the while contractions did not stop either. So, I never received an epidural that actually worked. I felt every contraction and my doctor and nurses said that I basically had this baby "natural" given my pain management didn’t work. I did receive two doses of a narcotic, which helped some, but not enough. After the botched epidurals, they checked me again and I was now 8 cm and they broke my water. I thought to myself "Well, at least if I don’t have an epidural, at least I’m already 8 c.m. Getting to 10 c.m. shouldn’t take too long." Boy was I wrong!!
After being stuck at 8 c.m. for 2 hours, my doctor ordered Pitocin to be administered. I was a bit nervous about this because I was still unsure whether it was the Pitocin that led to my c-section the first time with Donovan. However, how much pain I was in and how long things were taking, I agreed to it. They increased the dose every 30 minutes and it still took hours for me to progress to the goal of 10 c.m. I was so exhausted that I actually would doze between contractions despite the fact the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. Amazing my body would try to get that rest in such a short amount of time. After many painful contractions later I was finally at 10 c.m. at around 1:00 p.m. and was able to start pushing. It only took about 30-40 minutes to push Nicholas out into this world. That might sound long but the nurses and my doctor said that this was basically like a first birth since I had a c-section the first time and typically first times can take 2 hours or more of pushing. I actually had to take a break to wait for my doctor to get in her scrubs because it was going pretty quickly. I was glad I caught that break because I don’t know if I could have gone through 2 hours of that hard work. Everyone was very encouraging and I felt like I had my own personal cheerleading squad in the room with me, including Donnell by my side. I was able to watch the birth in a mirror, when I had my eyes open. Haha! To speed things along, my doctor gave me an episiotomy, too.
At 1:41 p.m. Nicholas was born into this world via successful VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). It was exhilarating and I felt like I really accomplished something. They immediately were able to put the baby on my belly for me to hold, which was much different than after the c-section with Donovan. My doctor and nurses said what an amazing job I did, especially considering that VBACs are relatively rare and I did it basically naturally. They were very surprised, too, how composed I remained. They said they would have dropping “F bombs” left and right and yelling, etc., but I must have internalized a lot because I was actually very quiet through a lot of it. They said I must have a high pain tolerance. I didn’t think so, but perhaps that’s one reason the worst thing I said during the labor my nurse said, was "Oh my gosh!". Ha!
Although the labor and delivery were so painful and exhausting (words can’t describe), I am so happy I was able to experience the miracle of childbirth this way. I don’t think my bond to either of my sons will be different one way or the other, but I’m really glad I could experience both. I was teary after all was said and done and felt that the 13 hours of labor really meant something and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.
We only had to stay in the hospital two days this time, which was nice considering Donovan was very much missing mommy at home. Donnell stayed the night at the hospital the first night, but not the second so he could be with Donovan. Once again, Donnell has proven to be a wonderful father and husband throughout my recovery. Amazingly, my recovery with this birth would have been sooo much easier than the c-section IF it wasn’t for the spinal headache that I have had for now a week after the birth. Because they “wet tapped” my spine three times (meaning spinal fluid was removed each time), it was inevitable that I get a headache. It hasn’t been as bad as they say it could get, but it has been bad enough that I’ve been on a couch for a full week, had trouble keeping food down 100% of the time, and overall very tired and weak. If it weren’t for this headache, I believe I would have been "up and at ‘em", so that has been unfortunate. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel as I haven’t taken any pain medication for a day now, kept real food down, and can get up from the couch in short spurts. Breastfeeding is going very well, too, and much easier the second time around!! Nicholas lost over 10% of his birth weight in 2 days, so we had to supplement with formula, but now we're done with that. I have WAY a lot of milk right now and have had to pump some off so he can even latch on. It was a relief my milk came in after just 3 days. Phew!
Donovan has been very interested in Nicholas and smiles every time he looks at him. It’s very cute. When Nicholas makes a noise, Donovan will say "hear dat?" and he’s been very gentle with him, so far. I think Donovan has had more trouble adjusting to mommy sitting around and not being able to play rather than the new baby. I’m sure we have some transitions and some jealousy to go through, but so far so good. Nicholas looks a lot like Donovan, by the way, too, just with less hair than he had at birth. Thank God for our nanny and my good friend, Kim, who have been so helpful. We have also been fortunate to receive a few meals or gift certificates for food. Thankfully I was able to freeze a few meals before the birth, too. Overall, it’s exciting to embark on this new adventure in the Life of the Johnson’s.
Nicholas was 2 days late compared to his estimated due date and I was very anxious for him to come out at this point. I had been having strong Braxton Hicks contractions for days, but nothing became regular or led to anything. And, on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at just around midnight exactly, only about 30 minutes after I went to sleep for the night, I started having contractions again. Only this time they felt different and pretty strong. After the 3rd one that felt pretty close to the last ones, I woke Donnell to start timing them. I don’t think he believed me that I thought I was in labor because he kept dozing off. At first the contractions were pretty far apart (12-14 minutes) and we weren’t supposed to call the doctor until they were 7-8 minutes apart for one hour. By 1:10 a.m. we had our first contraction that was only 7 ½ minutes from the last. I think Donnell finally started to believe this could happen tonight. Haha! With the birth of Donovan, our one dog, Ringo, sensed what was happening and started acting funny, but not this time. For the next hour the contractions varied from 7 ½ to 9 minutes apart and we called the doctor, who told us to go ahead and make our way to the hospital.
After calling a couple of people and waiting for his nanny, Jeri Sue, to come over to care for Donovan, we headed to the hospital. It was around 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. when we were settled into our labor and delivery room. They checked my progress and I was only 3 cm dilated at the time. Around 5:30 a.m. I was having a lot more trouble coping with the contractions. Each one wasn’t too bad, but when they come every 5 minutes, it gets very tiresome, so I asked for an epidural. We were also waiting for them to come in and break my water to progress things along. I asked them to check my progress once more before the epidural and I was 5 cm dilated. Around 6:15 a.m. the anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural. This part was troubling. He tried THREE times to get the epidural in. THREE! Maybe that would not have been too bad, except he never got it right! It was painful and worrisome to have someone poking my back so many times to relieve the pain all the while contractions did not stop either. So, I never received an epidural that actually worked. I felt every contraction and my doctor and nurses said that I basically had this baby "natural" given my pain management didn’t work. I did receive two doses of a narcotic, which helped some, but not enough. After the botched epidurals, they checked me again and I was now 8 cm and they broke my water. I thought to myself "Well, at least if I don’t have an epidural, at least I’m already 8 c.m. Getting to 10 c.m. shouldn’t take too long." Boy was I wrong!!
After being stuck at 8 c.m. for 2 hours, my doctor ordered Pitocin to be administered. I was a bit nervous about this because I was still unsure whether it was the Pitocin that led to my c-section the first time with Donovan. However, how much pain I was in and how long things were taking, I agreed to it. They increased the dose every 30 minutes and it still took hours for me to progress to the goal of 10 c.m. I was so exhausted that I actually would doze between contractions despite the fact the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. Amazing my body would try to get that rest in such a short amount of time. After many painful contractions later I was finally at 10 c.m. at around 1:00 p.m. and was able to start pushing. It only took about 30-40 minutes to push Nicholas out into this world. That might sound long but the nurses and my doctor said that this was basically like a first birth since I had a c-section the first time and typically first times can take 2 hours or more of pushing. I actually had to take a break to wait for my doctor to get in her scrubs because it was going pretty quickly. I was glad I caught that break because I don’t know if I could have gone through 2 hours of that hard work. Everyone was very encouraging and I felt like I had my own personal cheerleading squad in the room with me, including Donnell by my side. I was able to watch the birth in a mirror, when I had my eyes open. Haha! To speed things along, my doctor gave me an episiotomy, too.
At 1:41 p.m. Nicholas was born into this world via successful VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). It was exhilarating and I felt like I really accomplished something. They immediately were able to put the baby on my belly for me to hold, which was much different than after the c-section with Donovan. My doctor and nurses said what an amazing job I did, especially considering that VBACs are relatively rare and I did it basically naturally. They were very surprised, too, how composed I remained. They said they would have dropping “F bombs” left and right and yelling, etc., but I must have internalized a lot because I was actually very quiet through a lot of it. They said I must have a high pain tolerance. I didn’t think so, but perhaps that’s one reason the worst thing I said during the labor my nurse said, was "Oh my gosh!". Ha!
Although the labor and delivery were so painful and exhausting (words can’t describe), I am so happy I was able to experience the miracle of childbirth this way. I don’t think my bond to either of my sons will be different one way or the other, but I’m really glad I could experience both. I was teary after all was said and done and felt that the 13 hours of labor really meant something and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.
We only had to stay in the hospital two days this time, which was nice considering Donovan was very much missing mommy at home. Donnell stayed the night at the hospital the first night, but not the second so he could be with Donovan. Once again, Donnell has proven to be a wonderful father and husband throughout my recovery. Amazingly, my recovery with this birth would have been sooo much easier than the c-section IF it wasn’t for the spinal headache that I have had for now a week after the birth. Because they “wet tapped” my spine three times (meaning spinal fluid was removed each time), it was inevitable that I get a headache. It hasn’t been as bad as they say it could get, but it has been bad enough that I’ve been on a couch for a full week, had trouble keeping food down 100% of the time, and overall very tired and weak. If it weren’t for this headache, I believe I would have been "up and at ‘em", so that has been unfortunate. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel as I haven’t taken any pain medication for a day now, kept real food down, and can get up from the couch in short spurts. Breastfeeding is going very well, too, and much easier the second time around!! Nicholas lost over 10% of his birth weight in 2 days, so we had to supplement with formula, but now we're done with that. I have WAY a lot of milk right now and have had to pump some off so he can even latch on. It was a relief my milk came in after just 3 days. Phew!
Donovan has been very interested in Nicholas and smiles every time he looks at him. It’s very cute. When Nicholas makes a noise, Donovan will say "hear dat?" and he’s been very gentle with him, so far. I think Donovan has had more trouble adjusting to mommy sitting around and not being able to play rather than the new baby. I’m sure we have some transitions and some jealousy to go through, but so far so good. Nicholas looks a lot like Donovan, by the way, too, just with less hair than he had at birth. Thank God for our nanny and my good friend, Kim, who have been so helpful. We have also been fortunate to receive a few meals or gift certificates for food. Thankfully I was able to freeze a few meals before the birth, too. Overall, it’s exciting to embark on this new adventure in the Life of the Johnson’s.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Yooooo hooooo! Where are you???
Dear Nicolas,
Ummmm...are you cozy in there or what?! I wish I could say the same! You are due today ya know? My expectations were way off and it has caused me to be a little...okay a lot...impatient here. I did not expect to go back to work yesterday and it was BRUTAL. I thought about taking off, but what was I going to do but sit around and wait? Today is much better so far, at least. I am being teased left and right with a LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions, but they aren't leading anywhere yet. I guess I should be thankful that my water has not broken, I suppose, and that you are safe and healthy in there. We have a lot of people waiting on you, though, mister! A lot of people are anxious to meet you, especially your mommy! :-)
The latest thing that is really making me impatient is I have developed PUPPs, which is a skin problem in pregnancy. Interestingly, they don't know the cause of it. What's the cure, you ask? Only to deliver you! It itches on my belly a lot and gets red sometimes, with bumps. I am thankful, though, that some women get this at just 20 weeks, so if I only need to deal with it for a couple weeks (the last 2 days being the worst), I guess I'm happy. Always look for the positive things in life, ok? That is your first lesson your mommy will teach you. To be thankful and always find the silver lining. :-)
If you have not come by Thursday, I am quite sure my doctor will start to talk about when we need to get you out of there via c-section, as I can't be induced having a prior c-section. That will be very disappointing, to say the least, if I can't even attempt the VBAC after waiting this long. I could have done the c-section last week. :-) But, whatever gets us a healthy baby and healthy mommy will be what counts. Perhaps if you know you will be evicted by next Monday or Tuesday, let's say, I will get a massage this weekend and you and I can get you out of there sooner, ok? Deal?
Okay, back to work...ugh...you're killing me! :-)
Love,
Mommy
Ummmm...are you cozy in there or what?! I wish I could say the same! You are due today ya know? My expectations were way off and it has caused me to be a little...okay a lot...impatient here. I did not expect to go back to work yesterday and it was BRUTAL. I thought about taking off, but what was I going to do but sit around and wait? Today is much better so far, at least. I am being teased left and right with a LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions, but they aren't leading anywhere yet. I guess I should be thankful that my water has not broken, I suppose, and that you are safe and healthy in there. We have a lot of people waiting on you, though, mister! A lot of people are anxious to meet you, especially your mommy! :-)
The latest thing that is really making me impatient is I have developed PUPPs, which is a skin problem in pregnancy. Interestingly, they don't know the cause of it. What's the cure, you ask? Only to deliver you! It itches on my belly a lot and gets red sometimes, with bumps. I am thankful, though, that some women get this at just 20 weeks, so if I only need to deal with it for a couple weeks (the last 2 days being the worst), I guess I'm happy. Always look for the positive things in life, ok? That is your first lesson your mommy will teach you. To be thankful and always find the silver lining. :-)
If you have not come by Thursday, I am quite sure my doctor will start to talk about when we need to get you out of there via c-section, as I can't be induced having a prior c-section. That will be very disappointing, to say the least, if I can't even attempt the VBAC after waiting this long. I could have done the c-section last week. :-) But, whatever gets us a healthy baby and healthy mommy will be what counts. Perhaps if you know you will be evicted by next Monday or Tuesday, let's say, I will get a massage this weekend and you and I can get you out of there sooner, ok? Deal?
Okay, back to work...ugh...you're killing me! :-)
Love,
Mommy
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