1 Month Old Comparison!

Today Michael is one month old. I thought it would be fun to dress him in the same outfit I dressed William in for his 1 month picture. I think they look quite a bit a like. What do you think?

MICHAEL

WILLIAM

Michael meeting Great-Grandparents

Need hugs for William!

Oh boy! I sure could use some hugs for my William. Things are just not going his way lately. First, we had the baby and totally change his life around. He's done pretty well with his little brother, but still has some issues here and there. Well, then the poor kid gets H1N1! We rag on him to stay away from the baby and wash, wash, wash his hands, etc., make him take nasty medicine he hates, and plus he wasn't feeling good. Then he finally starts getting over that, but now has a nasty case of pink eye! So, Benjamin and I basically have to hold him down to give him his drops. Yesterday at daycare, one of the kids hit him, and the weather was cold, so they didn't get to play outside. And then today, he fell down the stairs (luckily he is ok, it was only 4 steps and he kinda rolled). But, then I also find out that my Dad's work schedule has changed, and he will be working straight days all week and won't be able to watch William anymore! He has been watching William 2-3 times a week since the kid was about 6 months old. PaPa days are his favorite, and now that is being taken away from him too. Can you believe all this stuff is happening all at once to a 2 year old? I wish there was a way I could make things easier on him right now, but I don't know how. I think the kid needs some hugs!

John 16:21

“When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.”

3 weeks old today!

My little Michael is 3 weeks old today. What a little cutie he is! Now, if only I could get him to actually sleep at night and to sleep longer periods, then I might be more human instead of a walking zombie!

On the mend!

Thank goodness, William is getting better! Whew! He hasn't had a fever in a couple days and has even started to eat and drink more. He is definitely getting back to his normal self. So far, the rest of us are feeling good (knock on wood). We have about a week of incubation for the H1N1 that we read on the government web site. So, I am hoping the rest of us stay healthy until Friday, and then maybe we will be out of the woods.

Things are going fine on the new baby front. Michael is a really good baby. The nights are kinda tough as he barely is going 3 hours between feedings at night, and sometimes after a feeding it takes a good 1/2 hour to get him back to sleep. He is starting to eat a little more and fill out a little. I have to say he still has little skinny chicken legs though! At his 2 week appointment, he weighed 6lbs 12oz, so he has gained back all that he lost (was 6lbs 0oz when we went to the pediatrician when he was 3 days old). He does some smiles in his sleep. It makes me sooo ready for that first smile he will do in response to me. William is showing a few jealousy issues, but then again he wasn't feeling all that well from the flu, so I think that added to it. He wasn't too happy to see his PaPa holding the baby the other day, but he likes to watch me change Mikey's diaper. He always lets me know when the baby is crying. It is nice to see them together, and I just think of the future when they can play together and get to be best friends.

My recovery is going well. I'm feeling pretty good only being 2 1/2 weeks after giving birth! I have been having some emotional highs and lows, and I feel sorry for Benjamin and the rest of my family to have to deal with me, but that is what happens when hormones try to regulate. I am hoping to level off soon, and have noticed things are a little better now that I am not as worried about William and H1N1. (That really had me worried for my boys!!) I have to admit that I am LOVING not being pregnant anymore. Don't get me wrong. Being pregnant was amazing and an experience I will treasure for all my life. However, there are still things in pregnancy that are no fun at all. I am loving that I can bend over, I can sleep on my tummy, I no longer have horrific heartburn, and am not so tired all the time. I'm tired from lack of sleep, but it isn't the same kind of tired I felt when I was pregnant. I am feeling almost back to my normal self which is great! Remember, I was pregnant back on October of last year, and then lost the baby in December, and I was pregnant again in January. It was like I was pregnant for an entire year, not just 9 months. It has been a long year, and it is nice to be feeling like me again!

H1N1 had infiltrated our home!

My poor Sweet William has been sick since Monday. On Wednesday, we needed to take little Michael into the pediatrician for his 2 week check up, and so we took William too so the doctor could take a look at him. He did a Strep test that was negative, and then a flu test which was positive. He said that William tested positive to Flu A which they are considering all + Flu A results to be H1N1!!!! NOOOOO! That is not what this household needs with a 2 week old. William is now on Tamiflu (which is a pain in the butt to even get him to take) which should hopefully shorten the length of his illness. We are trying to keep the boys away from each other, but that is almost laughable. We have been washing our hands like crazy, have a bottle of hand sanitizer on the coffee table, and I have clorox wiped every toy and surface of the house. I guess that is all we can do. The doctor said that we have all been exposed, so really there is nothing much we can do. I guess we all just sit here and wait until we all get it. I am supposed to watch Michael for a high fever and extreme fussiness, and if we see that we take him to the ER immediately. I am praying that all the clorox wiping and hand washing will do some good so the rest of us don't get it. I guess it is going to be a long month for our household!

This Blog needs a new name

Looking at the name of my Blog "Sweet William", I am thinking that it is time to change the name because this Blog isn't just about William anymore. With our new addition, I need to change it. Any ideas?

Our baby boy is here!

Hi everyone! I have some exciting news! Our little baby Michael is here. Here is our birth story...

At my last OB appointment, it was decided that it would be best to induce me. When I had William, he had some trouble coming out and the doctor needed the forceps to deliver him. He thought it would be best to have a little smaller of a baby, and hopefully he wouldn't need the forceps. So, on Tuesday, Sept 29, we went to the hospital at 8pm to start the induction. When we got there, admission desk was closed, so we had to go to the emergency room. Once we walked in, there were about 40 people in the waiting room, all with surgical masks!!! YIKES! H1N1 at it's finest! It freaked me out! I didn't want to catch it while waiting for a wheel chair to take me up to Labor and Delivery! Luckily, the lady checking us in must have sensed my apprehension, and let us wait in the hallway for the wheelchair! Thanks! So, they wheel us up, and I get all dressed in the lovely hospital gown. Of course, I had Benjamin take one last "bump" picture...

They hooked me all up, asked me a ton of questions because we didn't make it to our pre-admission appointment because it was schedule for the 30th! Oops. They inserted a little pill into the cervix to try to ripen things and get them going. I got 2 doses (1 every 4 hours). They started bringing on some contractions, but nothing too bad. The hardest part was the nurse trying to get me to sleep. They offered some medication to help me sleep, but I am not the type of person who likes to take a lot of drugs. With all my allergies, I get nervous about taking something I've never had before, and I tend to get a lot of side effects even if I am not allergic. So, Benjamin, my Mom, and I all try to sleep through the night. I think we all got about a hour total, so it was really hard. They checked me after the 2 doses, and I was only 3cm. After 8 hours and not sleeping, I was a little discouraged that I wasn't farther along, but the nurse kept telling me that the pill they gave is just to start things going, and once they started the pitocin, then I would really be going. (Almost like those 8 hours shouldn't count as "labor".) Once they started the pitocin (6am on Wed) everything really started to move. For this labor, I was really hoping to go natural, no epidural. My epidural when I had William was not the best experience, and I really was afraid to get one this time around. Last time, the doc had a TERRIBLE time getting it into my back - taking almost an hour - and then got it in the wrong spot, which in turn had me go numb way too far up, to the point I was having trouble swallowing. Also, I had a drop in blood pressure, which was scary to me. So, I was going to try to go all natural. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YA RIGHT!!!! I was so kidding myself! Once the pitocin started, holy cow were those contractions painful! Kudos to women who do it naturally. I kept trying different positions to labor, but I had to keep a monitor on to keep the baby's heartbeat registering and lots of positions we lost the signal. So, the best position for me was in a rocking chair...

Once I moved to the rocking chair, my water broke. This was it!! That happened when the nurse shift change started, so my new nurse, Mindy - who was just AMAZING!!! -, was a good luck charm. I stayed in the rocking chair for a little while, but my OB showed up and wanted to check me. So, I got back in bed, he checked me, and I was 4cm. WHAT??? That's it. Oh man, and by this time I was barely getting through the contractions at all, so that is when I caved and asked for the epidural. I was very scared to get it, but the pain won out over the scared. They called the anesthesiologist in, and he was sooooo nice. I told him my concerns and how scared I was, and he was very comforting and explained everything. The nurse whispered in my ear that he was "The Best" and was even the chair on a special "Pain Management" team or something. Last time, it took almost an hour to get the epidural, this time 6 minutes! I kid you not! And let me tell you, I was ready to KISS that doctor. Not only did I not go numb too high up, but my bp was great. He is now my favorite doc! hehehe Once I got the epi, I was feeling so much better. Mom and Benjamin came back in and I was like, "Hi guys! I'm feeling soooo much better." The nurse checked me again, and I had gone from 4cm to 7cm. Cool!! Progress! The bad part was is I started to shake, which is something that happened last time, and it a side effect. (See, I get all the side effects of drugs) However, I would take the shaking, which was pretty awful, over that pain. I told the nurse I was feeling some pressure, so she checked me and I was at 9cm! I'd say I went from 7 to 9 in like seconds! She called for the doc, because he had just left. After the OB checked me, I had asked for the epidural, and since that went so fast, I think he had just checked me at a 4 like 30 minutes prior. FAST! She called him back, and once he got there I was ready to push. I asked the nurse how I would be able to push when I was shaking so badly. She said that somehow you just stop, and she was right. When I started pushing, I really couldn't feel too much, so she totally stopped the epidural. I didn't even get a chance to push the little medicine button. I pushed and pushed, and felt like I wasn't doing much. The OB said that Michael was coming out crooked, which is what happened with William and why I needed the forceps. He asked for the vacuum (it goes on the baby's head and the doc can kinda maneuver the baby out. We tried that with William before the forceps, but the vacuum didn't work.) This time, it worked. I pushed with like 5 contractions, and Michael was born. What was kinda cool, is I could feel it more this time. With William, I was over medicated with the epidural and then numbed even more when I needed the forceps, that I didn't feel a thing. This time, boy could I feel that pressure. It really helped with the pushing, and once he came out I could feel relief immediately. Amazing! So, if you don't count the 8 + hours I was there in the evening, and just count "labor" once the pitocin was started, it took from 6am to 9:38am. FAST! Here are a few pictures!

Look at his big mouth! Hehe! He has a great set of lungs too! ;-)

Our new family!

Brothers!

Coming home!