Clearly Pete and Chester demand my attention. They can both physically demand my attention by doing crazy things around the house, and verbally demand my attention calling for me, "Mooooommy!". Marek, on the other hand, just sleeps, eats, cries and poops. Usually in that order. If I put him in the cradle, he's still there when I return from the shower. He may cry, but he can't actually create havoc and mayhem yet.
Instead, Marek has resorted to other methods of monopolizing my attention, and at first I fought it, but now I've just decided to accept 2am for what it really is. Our very special quiet bonding time. Marek gives me a relatively good stretch of sleep at night, from about 8pm to 1am or maybe 2am. He eats and gets a new diaper when he wakes up. Then he wants to play. He's not crying (unless I put him back down) and he's done eating. He just wants to hang out, typically for about two hours. At just over a month old, he's alert and strong enough to hold up his head while he coos and giggles. He makes googley eyes and waves his arms and legs around. Eventually he tires and begins to yawn and that's my cue to swaddle him and rock him back to sleep.
He's the littlest brother, and he'll always have to fight Pete and Chester for his share of the ice cream, the legos and the 4-wheeler. But we'll always have 2am.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Just don't shower. It's not worth it.
I should be doing laundry, but this is too funny not to share. The boys are curled up in "nests" that we made out of blankets and pillows, and the baby is napping so I have a few minutes.
I took a gamble and showered this morning. It had been too long and I had the baby napping soundly, and the other two boys trapped in the living room, seemingly entertained by Diego Dinosaur. I figured they would do something devious while I showered, but I had scanned the living room and playroom for any serious danger, and decided a shower was worth the risk. Besides, the bathroom is no more than 20 feet from the farthest point in the living room, so I figured I would hear if they started getting into trouble.
After I emerged and dressed, I was ready to celebrate my success. The couch cushions were all over the room, but that's simple enough to fix. They had stacked all the cushions on one chair, telling me it's a princess chair. We learned the word "throne" and Pete told me I'm a princess and a queen and that's my princess chair. I certainly felt like a princess, having actually gotten clean and dressed by 9am. Even better, I had moved from the size 12 jeans down to the size 10 jeans today, just over one month post partum! The day was really shaping up after yesterday's disaster.
Then I started to put back the cushions and I noticed some red splotches on one. I made a mental note to wipe them down when I had a minute and went back to picking up the cushions and folding the blankets. That's when I noticed little red splotches on the floor and it finally dawned on me that the splotches on the cushion were BLOOD.
Before you call DCFS, I want to tell you that it was a teeny tiny injury under Chester's toe. I checked his face first, as most of his injuries have been busting his face or mouth, but his head was fine. I found a small cut under his toe, and followed his little bloody tracks over the couch, up on the window sill and across the stone hearth. I could not find anything sharp or anywhere he possibly cut his foot. I cleaned the toe, bandaged it and put a sock on him to keep him from playing with it. Now that I think about it, if he were wearing socks to begin with, he probably wouldn't have cut the toe....
The couch is all clean and dried, and I think I found and cleaned all the little bloody footprints. Now I'm hoping that they'll pass out in these little nests we've made while they watch a dinosaur movie and I do a little laundry. After all, I'm still working on their blankets from last night...
I took a gamble and showered this morning. It had been too long and I had the baby napping soundly, and the other two boys trapped in the living room, seemingly entertained by Diego Dinosaur. I figured they would do something devious while I showered, but I had scanned the living room and playroom for any serious danger, and decided a shower was worth the risk. Besides, the bathroom is no more than 20 feet from the farthest point in the living room, so I figured I would hear if they started getting into trouble.
After I emerged and dressed, I was ready to celebrate my success. The couch cushions were all over the room, but that's simple enough to fix. They had stacked all the cushions on one chair, telling me it's a princess chair. We learned the word "throne" and Pete told me I'm a princess and a queen and that's my princess chair. I certainly felt like a princess, having actually gotten clean and dressed by 9am. Even better, I had moved from the size 12 jeans down to the size 10 jeans today, just over one month post partum! The day was really shaping up after yesterday's disaster.
Then I started to put back the cushions and I noticed some red splotches on one. I made a mental note to wipe them down when I had a minute and went back to picking up the cushions and folding the blankets. That's when I noticed little red splotches on the floor and it finally dawned on me that the splotches on the cushion were BLOOD.
Before you call DCFS, I want to tell you that it was a teeny tiny injury under Chester's toe. I checked his face first, as most of his injuries have been busting his face or mouth, but his head was fine. I found a small cut under his toe, and followed his little bloody tracks over the couch, up on the window sill and across the stone hearth. I could not find anything sharp or anywhere he possibly cut his foot. I cleaned the toe, bandaged it and put a sock on him to keep him from playing with it. Now that I think about it, if he were wearing socks to begin with, he probably wouldn't have cut the toe....
The couch is all clean and dried, and I think I found and cleaned all the little bloody footprints. Now I'm hoping that they'll pass out in these little nests we've made while they watch a dinosaur movie and I do a little laundry. After all, I'm still working on their blankets from last night...
Thursday, February 9, 2012
There's only one beer left? *sob*
So I just took the last beer out of the fridge and burst into tears. I only had one, and I thought there was at least another six pack in there, but I guess not. It's been that kind of day.
Allow me to tell you about this day in reverse. I have time to blog because my children are watching TV right now. At 8pm. Because their sheets are in the washer. Not even the dryer. The washer. That gives me approximately 60 more minutes before they'll be in bed. At least the baby is sleeping. Oh, wait, he is, but that means my 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep have already started, and as noted, I have at least another hour before my older boys are in bed, leaving me with possibly 3 hours of sleep tonight.
I had to just.put.the.baby.down and leave him to scream while I put the boys in their pajamas. That was his fussy time of the night and I was left alone to do jammies and bedtime.
At least they ate dinner at the birthday party today, which means I didn't have to cook! Happy Birthday T & M, we loved Build a Bear! I hope my dark under eye circles and unwashed hair didn't scare any of the other mothers. Yes, they all have kids, but based on how cute and perky everyone else looked, their kids are a little older and sleep through the night. Or they're on speed. Which I am now seriously considering picking up as a habit too.
A poor naptime leads to meltdowns at CVS, and a new baby with a new prescription for Thrush means the lab tech takes forever to file all the forms. While I wrangle all three screaming.crying.children and ignore the look of death being shot at me by the little old ladies in the waiting area. I would have gone through the drive through, but I needed to pick up a card for the birthday party. I meant to do that earlier this week. Didn't get to it until 20 minutes before the party.
I'm officially turning off my phone during naptime. The ONE hour I had available to me to nap was interrupted three times by the Real Estate Agent. They scheduled a 2pm showing. Then cancelled it. Then, at 1:19pm, tried to reschedule the showing for 2pm. What part of Three Kids under Four do they not understand? 41 minutes notice to show the house? Oh Hell No!
We made it home from preschool with one child asleep, one child fading fast and one child screaming his brains out. I guess getting your Hep B vaccine and then being shoved into a car seat isn't a recipe for a happy car ride home. To add insult to injury, the Dr. office was running late, so we were late to pre-school pick up, and the main door to school was locked. I gambled and decided to park illegally, then carried two screaming children down the stairs and around to the back door to pick up the pre-schooler.
The one bright spot in my day? Marek is 11 lb and 1 oz. He's been alive 31 days and he's gained 31 oz. This is the most successful breastfeeding relationship of the three. The first two were miserable and had me in tears every day. This has only hit a little hiccup with the Thrush today but is still unbelievably easy. My LCs and other BFing friends told me for the last three years that this wasn't normal, the pain should have gone away, etc. And finally, I believe them. I wasn't being a wimp before, the cracked and bleeding nipples with clogged ducts and mastitis were not the norm. THIS is the norm. THIS is what breastfeeding is supposed to be like.
I actually had enough by 8am so after I dropped off Pete at school, I took Chester to the gym. He went to playcare and I sat down to feed Marek and read my book. I felt bad because I had already been screaming at the boys by 8am. Insane, angry mommy screaming. The kind of screaming that leaves you with a an ache in your head and shame in your heart.
I slept 4:30am-5:30am this morning. And 9:30pm-1am last night. What did I do for over three hours last night? I fought a war with my one month old poop machine. Though I am thrilled to death that he's so well nourished that he has lots of poop, I would prefer he either poop during the day, or learn to poop without grunting, crying and wiggling. You see, he filled his diaper and I changed it. He filled it again, and I retaliated with a cold wipe instead of a warmed one. He peed on me. I put another diaper on him which he promptly filled. I let him sit in that one for a while, but he held it and then pooped WHILE I was changing the diaper. I gave up. But the damage was done and it was 4am. We finally both passed out, just as Ryan's alarm was going off at 4:30am.
One bad night is not the end of the world, but this was the third one in a row. I'm waving the white flag. Actually, I'm waving the Lime flag. The Bud Light Lime flag. But apparently I'm only waving two of them tonight, since that's all that was left in the fridge.
Allow me to tell you about this day in reverse. I have time to blog because my children are watching TV right now. At 8pm. Because their sheets are in the washer. Not even the dryer. The washer. That gives me approximately 60 more minutes before they'll be in bed. At least the baby is sleeping. Oh, wait, he is, but that means my 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep have already started, and as noted, I have at least another hour before my older boys are in bed, leaving me with possibly 3 hours of sleep tonight.
I had to just.put.the.baby.down and leave him to scream while I put the boys in their pajamas. That was his fussy time of the night and I was left alone to do jammies and bedtime.
At least they ate dinner at the birthday party today, which means I didn't have to cook! Happy Birthday T & M, we loved Build a Bear! I hope my dark under eye circles and unwashed hair didn't scare any of the other mothers. Yes, they all have kids, but based on how cute and perky everyone else looked, their kids are a little older and sleep through the night. Or they're on speed. Which I am now seriously considering picking up as a habit too.
A poor naptime leads to meltdowns at CVS, and a new baby with a new prescription for Thrush means the lab tech takes forever to file all the forms. While I wrangle all three screaming.crying.children and ignore the look of death being shot at me by the little old ladies in the waiting area. I would have gone through the drive through, but I needed to pick up a card for the birthday party. I meant to do that earlier this week. Didn't get to it until 20 minutes before the party.
I'm officially turning off my phone during naptime. The ONE hour I had available to me to nap was interrupted three times by the Real Estate Agent. They scheduled a 2pm showing. Then cancelled it. Then, at 1:19pm, tried to reschedule the showing for 2pm. What part of Three Kids under Four do they not understand? 41 minutes notice to show the house? Oh Hell No!
We made it home from preschool with one child asleep, one child fading fast and one child screaming his brains out. I guess getting your Hep B vaccine and then being shoved into a car seat isn't a recipe for a happy car ride home. To add insult to injury, the Dr. office was running late, so we were late to pre-school pick up, and the main door to school was locked. I gambled and decided to park illegally, then carried two screaming children down the stairs and around to the back door to pick up the pre-schooler.
The one bright spot in my day? Marek is 11 lb and 1 oz. He's been alive 31 days and he's gained 31 oz. This is the most successful breastfeeding relationship of the three. The first two were miserable and had me in tears every day. This has only hit a little hiccup with the Thrush today but is still unbelievably easy. My LCs and other BFing friends told me for the last three years that this wasn't normal, the pain should have gone away, etc. And finally, I believe them. I wasn't being a wimp before, the cracked and bleeding nipples with clogged ducts and mastitis were not the norm. THIS is the norm. THIS is what breastfeeding is supposed to be like.
I actually had enough by 8am so after I dropped off Pete at school, I took Chester to the gym. He went to playcare and I sat down to feed Marek and read my book. I felt bad because I had already been screaming at the boys by 8am. Insane, angry mommy screaming. The kind of screaming that leaves you with a an ache in your head and shame in your heart.
I slept 4:30am-5:30am this morning. And 9:30pm-1am last night. What did I do for over three hours last night? I fought a war with my one month old poop machine. Though I am thrilled to death that he's so well nourished that he has lots of poop, I would prefer he either poop during the day, or learn to poop without grunting, crying and wiggling. You see, he filled his diaper and I changed it. He filled it again, and I retaliated with a cold wipe instead of a warmed one. He peed on me. I put another diaper on him which he promptly filled. I let him sit in that one for a while, but he held it and then pooped WHILE I was changing the diaper. I gave up. But the damage was done and it was 4am. We finally both passed out, just as Ryan's alarm was going off at 4:30am.
One bad night is not the end of the world, but this was the third one in a row. I'm waving the white flag. Actually, I'm waving the Lime flag. The Bud Light Lime flag. But apparently I'm only waving two of them tonight, since that's all that was left in the fridge.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Sleep, or lack therof.
I've written about being tired, but the topic needs to be revisited now that Marek has arrived.
Ryan and I are both so exhausted some days that hilarity ensues. For example, last night, Ryan was reading his book while I fed the baby. We were talking, and he just suddenly stopped responding. He had fallen asleep, with his light on, and his head in the book. I considered being offended, but since I can't remember what we were talking about, I guess it wasn't that important anyway.
Marek doesn't have a sleep pattern yet. Some nights he's asleep at 7pm, some nights it's 9pm. Some nights he's awake twice for food, some nights it's just once, and some nights he's just up once but it's for three or four hours! Mostly I pick him up from the cradle, feed him and if he's fussy after eating, I keep him in bed with me. The other morning I woke up in a total panic, tossing blankets everywhere, horrified that I might have fallen asleep with Marek eating and smothered him. I couldn't find him, and the seconds ticked by as I tore apart the bed and pillows looking for him. Then I looked in the cradle, where he was sleeping peacefully, totally oblivious to my sleep-deprived flip out.
Clink. Clinkety-clink. Scuffle scuffle. Clink. What is that noise? It's the sound of my nearly two year old scaring me into an early grave. I awoke to a strange clinking sound one night last week, and in a panic, sent Ryan out to the kitchen to find the source. Ryan found Chester, standing on the chair he had pushed over to the counter, and chopping a pear with my butcher's knife. I used to think I'd hear anything these guys did in the night, but now I'm not so sure. So we're back to baby-gating them out of the kitchen and living room, and in addition, we've added alarms to the exterior doors and added locks at the top of the stairs. We used to have baby-proof door knobs for the doors, but my kids can outsmart those silly door knob covers so we've moved to more secure pre-schooler proofing.
Speaking of Chester trying to scare me into an early grave, he tripped over his own two feet in the living room this week, and put his bottom teeth through his lip. At this point, I've given up (see previous blogs of Chester's injuries) and after we stopped the bleeding, I determined that it wasn't worth stitches as the cut on the outside was small, and the local ER here doesn't stitch inside the mouth. (Is that a policy across the country, or just the ER here?) He looks fabulous with a huge fat lip and a bruise on his forehead. I'm still taking his pictures this weekend for his second birthday. It's nearly healed now, and even if he still had a swollen lip, I think it's important to document these things to embarrass him in front of his future girlfriends.
Ryan and I are both so exhausted some days that hilarity ensues. For example, last night, Ryan was reading his book while I fed the baby. We were talking, and he just suddenly stopped responding. He had fallen asleep, with his light on, and his head in the book. I considered being offended, but since I can't remember what we were talking about, I guess it wasn't that important anyway.
Marek doesn't have a sleep pattern yet. Some nights he's asleep at 7pm, some nights it's 9pm. Some nights he's awake twice for food, some nights it's just once, and some nights he's just up once but it's for three or four hours! Mostly I pick him up from the cradle, feed him and if he's fussy after eating, I keep him in bed with me. The other morning I woke up in a total panic, tossing blankets everywhere, horrified that I might have fallen asleep with Marek eating and smothered him. I couldn't find him, and the seconds ticked by as I tore apart the bed and pillows looking for him. Then I looked in the cradle, where he was sleeping peacefully, totally oblivious to my sleep-deprived flip out.
Clink. Clinkety-clink. Scuffle scuffle. Clink. What is that noise? It's the sound of my nearly two year old scaring me into an early grave. I awoke to a strange clinking sound one night last week, and in a panic, sent Ryan out to the kitchen to find the source. Ryan found Chester, standing on the chair he had pushed over to the counter, and chopping a pear with my butcher's knife. I used to think I'd hear anything these guys did in the night, but now I'm not so sure. So we're back to baby-gating them out of the kitchen and living room, and in addition, we've added alarms to the exterior doors and added locks at the top of the stairs. We used to have baby-proof door knobs for the doors, but my kids can outsmart those silly door knob covers so we've moved to more secure pre-schooler proofing.
Speaking of Chester trying to scare me into an early grave, he tripped over his own two feet in the living room this week, and put his bottom teeth through his lip. At this point, I've given up (see previous blogs of Chester's injuries) and after we stopped the bleeding, I determined that it wasn't worth stitches as the cut on the outside was small, and the local ER here doesn't stitch inside the mouth. (Is that a policy across the country, or just the ER here?) He looks fabulous with a huge fat lip and a bruise on his forehead. I'm still taking his pictures this weekend for his second birthday. It's nearly healed now, and even if he still had a swollen lip, I think it's important to document these things to embarrass him in front of his future girlfriends.
What does 2 + 1 = ?????
A whole lot less time than before!
I'm not sure what's been taking so much time recently. Though the obvious answer is "that pesky newborn" I don't think that's the whole answer! We've had family visiting pretty much non-stop since Marek was born, so even when he's sleeping, we're catching up on all the family and hometown news from the last six months.
I know you're reading this blog solely for the gratuitous pictures of the new baby, so here's one:
Marek is now three weeks old and he's much more alert already. He's such a great eater, I couldn't be happier with his nursing. He also had his first bottle this week, and though I went back to work teaching just one night a week, he still needs to eat while I'm in class! Marek is still learning to like his binky, but the Wubanub is helping a lot. It doesn't keep the binky from falling out of his mouth, but it certainly makes it easier for me to find and put back in his mouth while I'm driving.
I'm not sure what's been taking so much time recently. Though the obvious answer is "that pesky newborn" I don't think that's the whole answer! We've had family visiting pretty much non-stop since Marek was born, so even when he's sleeping, we're catching up on all the family and hometown news from the last six months.
I know you're reading this blog solely for the gratuitous pictures of the new baby, so here's one:
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| Notice Chester wrestling Ryan in the background? It's like Battle Royale around here most days! |
Ryan and I also took a trip to San Diego last week. Crazy, I know, but he was being honored by the AFCEA US Naval Institute with the Copernicus Award, and we don't get to choose the date of the awards ceremony it was now or never.
Here we are at the awards ceremony- Marek was totally content to snuggle up in the Moby wrap and sleep through most of the trip. I also used the wrap to sneak him into the convention center even though it was supposed to be ages 16+, you can barely see him peeking out of the wrap!
Here's Marek's first trip to the Beach. He's snuggled up in the Moby, but I managed to dip my toes in the ocean. So now I'm up to the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Alaska, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean. I'm taking suggestions for my toes' next adventure!
We also took a few side trips while we were in San Diego. I'd never been to California before, and it was nice to have a little extra time to explore. This was taken at the Mt. Soledad Vetrans' Memorial. It's so weird to be at the beach and then up in the mountains ten minutes later! As we drove up the steep and winding neighborhood streets, I kept thinking how crazy it must be to plow them in the winter. Then I realized this is winter and clearly there's no snow. If we ever get stationed in San Diego, it will be a completely different experience than New England, and even Virginia!
Speaking of totally different. Let's compare last winter to this winter. First is a picture from this winter, with the two inches of snow we've had. The boys played outside the one morning that we had snow. It melted later that day. Second is a picture from last winter. We had so much snow that we were running out of room to put the snow after Ryan shoveled it off the driveway!
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| January 2012 |
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| January 2011 |
Finally, we've been taking advantage of Free Friday bowling over at Hanscom Air Force Base. The first time we went when Marek was 5 days old and I needed some activity for the boys while Ryan enrolled Marek in DEERS. I wasn't sure how they would do, if they would be able to hold the ball, or understand the concept, but I shouldn't have worried at all. Both Pete and Chester now love "Rolling Balls".
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| First, they find EVERY six pound ball in the entire alley. |
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| Whoever invented this thing is genius. We also use the bumpers and they hit pins every time! |
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| There's Pete's strike! |
So there are the updates. I can't promise I'll be back soon, but I'll try to keep up!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
One week old. One week down. One crazy week!
Marek was born on Saturday night and we came home from the hospital on Monday morning. Their policy would have allowed another day, but I was bored, the boys were bored and Ryan was pretty bored too.
I came home to a wonderfully clean house, with all the laundry finished and a lasagna ready to bake for dinner. Ryan has done an amazing job with the boys and the house, which can't be easy, considering he was just thrown into the details of our daily routine (really, I swear I'm not crazy, but there's a gazillion things to keep straight as you go through the day and missing the timing of just one can lead to a pre-schooler peeing his pants during naptime). With the way he's jumped in to help deal with the house and kids and meals and me and the baby, I'm pretty sure I have the best husband ever right now, so all you single ladies can just give up, Prince Charming is already taken.
So far this week, we've handled pre-school, doctor appointments for weight checks, a trip to Pump it Up, more doctor appointments, a grocery trip, a Babies' R Us trip, pre-school again, more doctor visits, and an afternoon of bowling. Even with a new baby, we've been just as busy as ever with Pete and Chester.
On to the baby related news: Marek is eating well and gaining weight. I cannot sufficiently express my joy over this but many of you know how badly I struggled feeding Pete and Chester. At the Navy Hospital where Pete was born, I was told he was a "big baby" (at 8lbs 10oz- the smallest of my children) and would have blood sugar problems because he hadn't eaten 3oz of colostrum in the first two hours after his birth. There's so many things wrong with that, but I had no idea, and instead he was given bottles of formula until my milk came in three days later. By then we had no chance of getting his latch right and he ended up hurting me when nursing directly and mostly ate bottles of pumped breast milk. Chester's saga was a little different, his latch was inhibited by a tight frenulum, but the result was the same, he totally mangled my nipples, leaving me cracked and bleeding for months. He also had poor weight gain, so we supplemented Chester with bottles of pumped breast milk. Finally I have a child who seems to be on the right track. Marek has already regained his birth weight by day four, and I have no new significant damage to my breasts. This is how breastfeeding should be and I am forever grateful to BG, SBH and the lactation counselors here in Beverly for everything they've done to get us on the right track this time.
Caution: graphic breast details- skip this paragraph if you don't want to know. Thursday, after meeting with the Lactation Consultant, I was sent to a breast surgeon who numbed the nipple and sliced the scar tissue that had been covering a milk duct for over a year, since Chester mangled me. As soon as she did it, the pressure released and the gobs of old milk that had been stuck behind the skin came out like stepping on a toothpaste tube. We are hoping it won't seal over the opening again as it heals, but it already feels a million times better when Marek eats.
I even had a chance to enjoy a girls' night out with SH, LG and LK on Friday night, though I guess it wasn't a true girls' night, since Marek came along with me. And this afternoon, there's a spouses' club board meeting for me to attend. I'd say we're settling right in, even though I'm still using my two hands to feed the baby, and therefore can't quite surf the internet like I could while I was pregnant!
With all three boys napping, I better get to sleep too. Having a newborn in the house is just about the same as being pregnant with two poor sleepers and third-trimester insomnia, so I'm grabbing naps whenever I can!
And now for the gratuitous baby pics!
I came home to a wonderfully clean house, with all the laundry finished and a lasagna ready to bake for dinner. Ryan has done an amazing job with the boys and the house, which can't be easy, considering he was just thrown into the details of our daily routine (really, I swear I'm not crazy, but there's a gazillion things to keep straight as you go through the day and missing the timing of just one can lead to a pre-schooler peeing his pants during naptime). With the way he's jumped in to help deal with the house and kids and meals and me and the baby, I'm pretty sure I have the best husband ever right now, so all you single ladies can just give up, Prince Charming is already taken.
So far this week, we've handled pre-school, doctor appointments for weight checks, a trip to Pump it Up, more doctor appointments, a grocery trip, a Babies' R Us trip, pre-school again, more doctor visits, and an afternoon of bowling. Even with a new baby, we've been just as busy as ever with Pete and Chester.
On to the baby related news: Marek is eating well and gaining weight. I cannot sufficiently express my joy over this but many of you know how badly I struggled feeding Pete and Chester. At the Navy Hospital where Pete was born, I was told he was a "big baby" (at 8lbs 10oz- the smallest of my children) and would have blood sugar problems because he hadn't eaten 3oz of colostrum in the first two hours after his birth. There's so many things wrong with that, but I had no idea, and instead he was given bottles of formula until my milk came in three days later. By then we had no chance of getting his latch right and he ended up hurting me when nursing directly and mostly ate bottles of pumped breast milk. Chester's saga was a little different, his latch was inhibited by a tight frenulum, but the result was the same, he totally mangled my nipples, leaving me cracked and bleeding for months. He also had poor weight gain, so we supplemented Chester with bottles of pumped breast milk. Finally I have a child who seems to be on the right track. Marek has already regained his birth weight by day four, and I have no new significant damage to my breasts. This is how breastfeeding should be and I am forever grateful to BG, SBH and the lactation counselors here in Beverly for everything they've done to get us on the right track this time.
Caution: graphic breast details- skip this paragraph if you don't want to know. Thursday, after meeting with the Lactation Consultant, I was sent to a breast surgeon who numbed the nipple and sliced the scar tissue that had been covering a milk duct for over a year, since Chester mangled me. As soon as she did it, the pressure released and the gobs of old milk that had been stuck behind the skin came out like stepping on a toothpaste tube. We are hoping it won't seal over the opening again as it heals, but it already feels a million times better when Marek eats.
I even had a chance to enjoy a girls' night out with SH, LG and LK on Friday night, though I guess it wasn't a true girls' night, since Marek came along with me. And this afternoon, there's a spouses' club board meeting for me to attend. I'd say we're settling right in, even though I'm still using my two hands to feed the baby, and therefore can't quite surf the internet like I could while I was pregnant!
With all three boys napping, I better get to sleep too. Having a newborn in the house is just about the same as being pregnant with two poor sleepers and third-trimester insomnia, so I'm grabbing naps whenever I can!
And now for the gratuitous baby pics!
Monday, January 9, 2012
I'm going to San Diego!
At my January 3 midwife appointment, I received severely disappointing news. Despite an original due date of January 4, they were moving my due date to the last of three dates. Three different ultrasounds gave estimates of January 4, 6, and 12, and considering we had reached January 3 with no indications of impending labor, it was a “safe” idea to move the due date to January 12 to allow Baby to enter on his own schedule rather than using medical intervention. Birth Center protocol only allows for a baby to be delivered up to two weeks “overdue” and by changing my EDD to January 12, we were protecting my right to a birth center birth without the hassles of hospital protocol. Though I knew and understood the reasoning behind the change, it was still a devastating thing to hear. Even worse, the final cutoff for Marek’s arrival was January 26, the day AFTER we were scheduled to return home from San Diego.
Saturday, after an exciting week of visiting with Grandma Kowalske, I was rapidly giving up hope that Marek would arrive while she was here to help and I was starting to worry I would have to cancel my trip to San Diego. We attended J’s first birthday party in the afternoon out in Sudbury, an hour from our hospital, almost as if I were daring a rapid labor to start. Looking back, I remember feeling a few twinges at the party, but nothing different than the last three weeks that would indicate progress.
We ate dinner and I put Pete and Chester in bed, this time I actually started timing some of those twinges, mild, but lasting 30 seconds and coming approximately every ten minutes. And then… they stopped. I was upset, but this had happened between 7-10pm several times a week for the last three weeks and it wasn’t surprising to me at all.
About 8:15pm, I started feeling a general sense of pressure, and I was having momentary twinges, just a few seconds at a time, and sporadically, a minute, then three minutes, then one minute apart. They didn’t form a pattern and lasted at most three to four seconds. Remembering how quickly Chester’s labor went from “mildly uncomfortable?” to “OMG that’s a baby!” I decided to call the midwife on duty for a chat. She reviewed my history and agreed that I should come in to get checked, if only for peace of mind. I really thought I would be sent home.
When we arrived at the birth center at 9pm, I measured at 3cm and based on my description of the pain we decided it most likely wasn’t labor but she suggested we stay for an hour to confirm there was no progress. Ryan watched the Lions game on NFL.com and I listened to music and tried to solve a crossword puzzle. The “real” contractions returned at 9:30pm, so I was encouraged, and found comfort hanging over a birth ball. By 10:15pm, Reina checked me again and I measured at 6cm. I was officially admitted, she filled the tub and put me on the monitors. Ryan called our friend Sarah who would be photographing the birth, and sadly my friend Meghan was visiting family in Maine and she would miss the birth.
The contractions got stronger, but not significantly closer together and I wondered how this birth would go. Every birth has the potential to be different from the last, and I was a little nervous of my ability to handle the pain if it didn’t end soon. I was in the tub and begged to be checked again, but I couldn’t move to allow her access. I had no concept of passing time, but was able to joke and laugh in between contractions. I focused on the music each time a contraction hit, closing my eyes and envisioning my hips opening, trying to relax through it and open instead of tensing to fight the pain. I hummed and moaned through each contraction and I’m pretty sure I got a little loud. Suddenly I could feel movement, and I thought I might poop. All I could think was that would be very embarrassing with my friend there to watch, even though all the books tell you it happens quite often. I didn’t want to poop, but with the next contraction, I no longer cared and decided to let it happen. That’s when I realized it wasn’t poop, but his head coming. I paused to listen to the music, and heard Il Divo singing Amazing Grace, pushed again and his head was out. Another push and his shoulders emerged. The midwife had me lay back and reached in to guide the baby to the surface as I gave one final push and his body slid out. I looked at this guy and just thought how small he was. He felt small, he looked small, he had been predicted between six and seven pounds just a few days before, but he was actually NINE pounds and two ounces. I guess it’s all relative!
Marek Jacob Kowalske, born 1/7/2012 at 11:44pm. Nine pounds, two ounces and twenty one inches long. Another fast and easy birth to make up for a long and miserable pregnancy.
Big brothers Pete and Chester are in love with their new baby brother. Pete even wanted to bring him home “already” (his favorite word when I tell him he needs to wait or be patient) and Chester brought him cheerios to share. I see many discussions of what babies are and are not allowed to eat in our future!
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