Health Issues

So this past Thursday was Emelyne's procedure to check her bladder & kidneys. Talk about one of the most anticipated days of our lives but not in a good way. We told Em a little bit about it, that they were going to put a camera in her body and take pictures. We were most worried about them getting her IV in, as she does NOT like shots in the least. (Who does?!) Thank goodness for supportive family! I wasn't sure if i wanted to be with her during the process, because i am already so emotional right now & even though i'm sure she'd want her mama, i knew it would be worse if she could see the concern and sadness on my face. Especially your children can read your expressions with no problem. So my mother-in-law & sister-in-law met us at the hospital. That was a huge relief because my SIL is a nurse and has no problem speaking up if she questions something. So I filled out the paperwork, and sent daddy & auntie in with her. Then out she walked to the waiting room where grandma & I were, and this is what she looked like...

Isn't she so sad looking? She was actually doing super considering the situation. She didn't really get upset, was just so curious about everything and had to know exactly what they were doing to her. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of it, but when they came to take her downstairs to radiology department, they brought a wheelchair. Her exact words upon seeing it were "my legs arn't broken. I don't need this." Anyway, upon getting checked out by the doctor, they discovered she has a nasty double ear infection. Thank goodness that didn't interfere with the procedure. We'd just had her in to the doc on Monday, and her ears, nose & throat were perfect. She had the stomach flu though and was vomiting and diarrhea all day. This poor girl has had a realllllly tough week. But, to finish up with good news, all the tests came back negative & normal! No problems with her bladder or kidney's. Talk about a huge relief!!!

Now for baby boy, his 2 week check up was also on Thursday. He's 8 lbs 14 oz 22 inches. So he's grown a whole 1 inch in two weeks. Believe it or not, he's at the 92% for now for his height. (We'll see how long that lasts!) 57% for weight, and only 12% for head. (A small head is a good thing!) So none of those stats really matter if you ask me, they change and grown so fast but at their own pace. I do hope he grows slowly though, cause i'm trying to soak up every second of his tiny-ness that i can! Enjoy the pics!

First family meeting, Octaveus 2 weeks old (3\17\13)

 Aaron & Emelyne were not cooperating for this photo...

 Don't worry, the look on her face is scary but i was closely supervising...

Birth Story

So i figured i better go ahead and write this up fast while some details are still fresh in my mind. The longer time goes on i know i will forget or block out certain moments forever! This is how it happened, how Octaveus came in to the world:

The morning (March 1st) started off just the way i had hoped it wouldn't. I called in at 10am to make sure we were still on for an 11am induction. I was told no, we were not on, and they didn't know how long it would be or even if it would for sure happen that day. I had to just wait for them to call me and give me the go ahead. This my friends, is a form of torture. Do you have any idea what that does to a expectant mother who's been told for weeks that she was going to have a baby this certain day and then that day comes and they say "hey, we're not sure this is even happening today but hang right by your phone cause we can call at any moment." ??? Not good. So at noon they call and say basically the same thing again. Still waiting. One o'clock comes, two o'clock comes and goes. Three o'clock. At this point not only am i in the "depths of despair" (as Anne so well puts it) but also getting very grumpy & agitated. My mom, sisters, Sara & I decided to leave the hotel where we were twiddleing our thumbs and disinterestedly watching Dr. Phil, and go shopping at TjMaxx. 3:30 we get there, browse for about 5 minutes and my phone rings again. This time it's the call i was waiting for! Time to go in & have a baby. FINALLY. And you better believe that even though i wasn't really in labor yet, my mother drove us there like i was about to have the baby in the car at any moment. She was worried they'd call back and tell me not to come in.

4 pm: We're at the hospital, gowned up, iv'd up & waiting for the doc.
4:30 ish: Doctor checks me out and breaks my water. There is no turning back now! Babies bath is being drained and he's coming out sometime soon. (hopefully!) And then, nothing happens...........and nothing happens..........i'm okay'ed to get off monitors and walk around. So there i go, lesiurely walking up & down the halls, chowing down on some delicious oatmeal raisin cookies (thank you Tina T!) and sipping on even more delicious homemade green juice (again, thanks to Tina T!)
They were waiting for something to happen...

And so was I!

No contractions, nothing.

6:30 pm: They tell me to try a bath, cause that can help get things going naturally, and i was really hoping to avoid proticin (drugs to induce contractions)

7:15 pm: Contractions start & pick up pretty quickly. 4 min apart and by the 5th or 6th one they REALLY start to hurt already. Within 10 min, i tell my nurse that we need to have a chat about an epidural! It might sound wimpy, being not much time had gone by, but they came on so strong already, and hurt more than what i'd remembered with Emelyne. My nurse checked me and i was still only 5cm dialated. So i said let's do it, i want an epidural NOW! By this time it's a little after 8pm. They needed to get a bag of iv fluid in me before the epidural, so while that was going they called the anesthesiologist and get my paperwork going. Also, at this point, the contractions were getting so bad that apperently i wasn't breathing correctly and because of this (so they say) my hands started cramping & going numb as well as my face started going numb. The face part was starting to scare me. One of the med students was so sweet and stood there massaging my hands which kind of distracted me.

8:40 ish: Anesthesiologist is in the room. I sign the consent form & he starts asking my the 500 questions they have to go over. I'm already in position on the side of the bed, wishing sincerely that he's shush up and stick that needle in my spine already! At the same time i was really wondering how in the world i would hold VERY still while he did that, considering my contractions had only gotten MUCH stronger and frequent at that point. In fact i'm pretty sure some of them were over lapping and i was not getting a break. I could barely talk, and i felt LOTS of pressure, pressure to push. My nurse must have read my face, because she asked me that very question. I couldn't answer her, so they quickly rolled me over and could already see the babies head. At this point the anesthesiologist says "too late for you for epidural, good luck" and walks out the door. I wanted to strangle him! Even though i knew it'd be soon now, i wanted that medicine SO bad. Meanwhile, complete panic had set in in the room. There was no doctor around (only 1 1\2 hr before when i'd made no progress they'd told my doc to go ahead and stay home & eat dinner before coming in) and there was no equipment in the room yet for delivery or for baby, my bed was not even dropped away yet. But Octaveus didn't care about any of that. I can't tell you how many people were running in & out of the room. I was literally screaming in pain by then. Come to find out later on, because they never closed my door, all my friends & family in the waiting room were privileged to hear me the entire time. (Sorry about that again to you all!) So i was yelling, the nurses were yelling at me not to push, and i wasn't. My kids just come out on their own with not much help from me. Within a few minutes, my nurse says "okay, this is happening right now, give me a good push" so i gave 1 good push and out he came. At 9pm on the dot. So about 1 1/2 hrs after my contractions started was all it took til he was born. He came out SCREAMING (like me!) but at that time, it's the most wonderful sound in the world! His tongue was going and he was ready to eat already! 8 pounds 1 ounce 21 inches long. My doctor arrived about 20 minutes later. It took about 45 minutes for me to stop compulsively shaking & for them to clean everything up. And then this happened...

and we all lived....happily, but not so healthly ever after!

Stay tuned for another update. We've been busy! And enjoy a few more pics!

 Time to go home...

1 Week Old

AGE: 1 week

WEIGHT: 9 lbs already! He weighed 7lb 9oz on Sunday when we came home, so up more than a pound in less than a week. Yikes! I'm having pregnancy flashbacks already...
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Sleeping, eating & pooping! And he does like his baths so far.
LEAST FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Getting his diaper changed. And being cold.
MY CHILD IS A GENIUS BECAUSE: He can seriously hold his head up SO stinkin well! He's got the strongest neck ever. I've never seen a newborn with such strong neck muscles. He doesn't even flop his head down, he just gently, slowly puts it down.

So bear with me, this new weekly stats is a work in progress. I plan on changing it up a little bit. And it will morph into a monthly stats, but for now being he's so new i decided to do a weekly one. In essence, i think this will kind of be like Octaveus' online baby book. I was horrible about keeping one for Em, so i am determined to fill this blog with new teeth, first\new words, happiest moments ect. I will post a seperate blog about the birth story. For now i'm gonna try to stick to the first week of life at home with 2 kids and how we are all individually adjusting. Then, watch out cause i'm sure there'll be a ton of pics to follow.

It's hard for me to say really, how things at home with 2 are going, mostly because my mom was here for the week and just left yesterday. Call me a baby, or a new second time hormonal mama, but i bawled like a baby the instant she went to leave. Even typing this makes me want to cry. HATE.HORMONES! So as you can imagine, i was pretty much off of dishes\cleaning duty, as well as making meals. I DID manage to make our bed most mornings and i've been doing laundry daily. THAT is an accomplishment! Octaveus really is all around a pretty good baby THANK goodness! He eats like a champ, (obviously considering he's gained over a pound already!!) poops like a champ, (and likes to wiz all over the couch & wall when being changed) and of course sleeps a lot, even at night it's been okay. Last night i am happy to report we got a 3 hour & a 4 hour stretch in. Let's hope it keeps going that way. He really is not fussy at all, until of course today, i'm thinking he's having tummy troubles.

As far as i go, i am pretty much as expected. Emotional, hormonal ect. And i have forgotten how much worse new "mom brain" is than pregnancy brain. Boy have i done some stupid stuff this week! Not feeling the greatest, but i got sick the day after we got home with the sinus cold sore throat crud. And with the extreme lack of sleep, i am not getting over it any to quickly. I have a lot of complaints in the department of not feeling well, but i will spare you of what they are. I do however LOVE not being pregnant anymore and still am so thankful everyday that  once he was born my back & hip pain were instantly gone and i have no more nausea. I've really been trying to soak up every bit of the new baby snuggley goodness over the week and it's been great! I've really appreciated the experience far more this time around, mostly i think because of being much more laid back the 2nd time around. And even though we absolutely were not planning on having any more children after this, i feel an profound sadness knowing that we CAN'T have any more. It makes me so badly want to just bottle up all these last "new" baby experiences because they go by SO quickly. I say we can't have any more kids because there was an issue with Octaveus blood type vs my blood type, making it that we should not have any more kids or it'd be very bad. Don't get me wrong, i am not boo-hooing or complaining. I sure know how fortunate we are to have 2 of the most beautiful children ever! I just wish the time didn't pass by so so quickly. And that he wouldn't change so so much so quickly. Having a child like Emelyne though, i can not even imagine what we are in store for with Octaveus & his personality!

As far as Aaron goes, though i can't speak for him, i can tell you he couldn't be a more proud daddy! Every time he holds him he makes some comment like "he's sure a good looking boy we made" or something to that effect. SO sweet! And though i have no expectation for him to do so, he diligently forces himself awake  at the end of each feeding during the night to change baby's diaper & swaddle him & put him back to bed. He couldn't be happier with his boy, or to have a boy to complete the family.

Emelyne, LOVES her little brother. She wants to share EVERYTHING with him, toys, animals, blankets. And i'm sure the poor girl is so over being told "no leave him alone" all the time. She always wants to press the buttons on the swing or check and see if baby's eyes are open or if his tongue is sticking out of his mouth. She IS a super helper! Always willing to toss diapers in the trash or go get whatever you ask her to. She always wants to hold him, which is not nearly enough according to her because she's still getting over being sick so we don't like her to be touching him too much. She is however having some behavior issuses, not surprisingly. Around 3-4 pm everyday she pretty much has an emotional breakdown, and is having several issues daily with disobeying\not listening. It's not terrible, and i expected something of this sort. Between being sick still, adjusting to a new baby in the house, and being so sad that her Grandma Jen went home, i think she's doing pretty well actually. I find it funny being Em has always been so tiny for her age, and still is, that she now looks like a monster of a child to me. Especially her hands & fingers, look ginormous! Though being a boy and being a good eater already, i'm sure it won't be long til her brother catches up to her!

Okay i think i'm done for now. I've been working on this post for 3 days now. Time for some pics and i think it's complete!!

 He was good for the first few but obviously got impatient with me...isn't even his crying face the cutest?!

 Emelyne telling him a story.

 Just pure LOVE

 Chceking out the crazy safari animals for the first time. I didn't get it in the picture but he frowned at them pretty sternly for a bit trying to decide if he liked them.

 This was taken on Wednesday, what would've been my "Week 40" pregnancy blog! I said too bad i couldn't hold him upside down to get the real image of him being inside my belly! Oh and look, jeans! I'm wearing jeans! Seriously i don't think i've worn jeans in months, and i was pretty convinced even after being pregnant that it'd be more comfortable to continue living in leggings. But i was wrong. Jeans CAN be comfortable, who knew?! Okay no one else may care about this but i was pretty impressed.