Abram at 2 weeks!

Abram turned two weeks old on Friday, November 1st! It is very new for me, but of course I was 2 days late taking his pictures and 3 days late writing his post. I kind of feel bad because Lexi didn't get posts like these! I was new to blogging and I updated a bit but not very much. So second kid syndrome totally didn't apply here ;)

ABRAM RYAN

 

EATING: You had jaundice so we were supplementing in the beginning but you have been a professional nurser since you were born! Daddy says it is because you are his boy, ha! Nursing this time around has been a completely different story. You took to bottles with no problem and no confusion nursing. You also took to the nunu with no confusion. I wanted to wait to introduce it because I didn't want to chance you getting confused, but you rocked it! I am proud that you haven't had a bottle in two days! Woohoo for strictly mama milk :) Your doctor wants me spacing out your feedings to every 4 hours and if you want to eat in between giving you sugar water, but I am following my mama heart and nursing on demand, if I think you are hungry. If you are doing it for comfort, I will give you sugar water but that has only been the case once or twice. This was a personal decision between your daddy & I.

SLEEPING: Oh boy, this is where it gets interesting! When you first came home you slept amazing! You would sleep 3-4 hour stretches and I would always wake you at 4 hours because I thought I needed to. Once your doctor said to stop that, you started sleeping one 6 hour stretch! Halloween night you even slept 11-6:30! I figured it was a fluke, and boy was I right. Since then? You are sleeping 2-3 hour stretches. In your defense, I think you are going through a growth spurt and dealing with some reflux. Either way, while it is a little exhausting you eat, I change you and you go right back to sleep with no problem most nights.

WEIGHT/WEARING: When we went to your last appointment (1 week, 3 days) you were back up to birth weight-  6 pounds 11 ounces! You, my boy, are so teeny tiny and so long!! You are wearing only newborn clothes and most of them swim on you. You have outgrown two sleepers already because you are so long. You are in preemie diapers! You have one pair of dinosaur slippers that fit you, but that is it, shoe wise.

BIG SISTER LEXI: Lexi has been so amazing since we brought you home! She loves to help in any way she can! She has learned all the names of the things we ask her to grab for you- burp cloths, nunus, bulb syringe/snot thing, etc. She still begs to hold you, feed you, and kiss you! She is just amazed by you, as are we! You are so blessed to have such an amazing big sister. As for Maverick, he is acting out way worse than sister ever would have! Crazy dog.

MILESTONES: Your umbilical cord fell off on October 30 at 12 days old! It looks crazy weird though- it has this like stump looking thing inside of it. Your daddy says you are just going to have an innie/outie! It is pretty cute. You had your first bath and HATED every second of it. You do not like to be cold one bit. You are really good at holding your head up, which I am so not ready for! You are also very alert. I started a project 365 on instagram for tracking your daily growth for your first year! I am pretty excited about it! It's #ABRAMRYANproject365

NICKNAMES: We call you Abram, Abey baby, little man, man, sometimes bubba, and a friend came up with A-man and that is really growing on me!

OVERALL: You are such a different baby than your sister. You are very calm and content, most of the time. You are such a joy to our hearts and even though you have only been here two weeks, I am amazed how I barely remember you not being here! You are such a sweet baby and a mama's boy- love it!

We love you our little captain baby! You are amazing!

Our New Normal

Going from one kid to two kids always scared me. The unknown of it can really freak a mom out. I know a few people who have two kids and it seems pretty split on having it be a really easy transition verses a really tough one. This is just our experience- everyone has their own and their own ways of doing things. This is just what works for us!

While I was in the hospital, it was pretty much normal day to day life. Lexi was with my mother in law mainly and Ryan was working most of the weekend. I think my transition started a little bit in the hospital when it was just Abram and I. We roomed in and he stayed with me as much as he could. He only spent the necessary time in the nursery. He was such a great baby and I was enjoying the bonding time with him! By the end of the weekend I was beyond ready to head home. Truth be told, I was ready Saturday by lunch! I just don't do good with being cooped up and checked on so much. Lexi came up to the hospital a few times to meet her baby brother but she also did a ton of special things with just her!

We came home Sunday and my mother in law picked us up since Ryan was working. When we got home it was pretty overwhelming. We had gifts everywhere, I needed to pump the first time, clothes and bags, the house was a disaster area (even though it was cleaned thoroughly while I was laboring!), and it was just a lot. Once we got settled though, it went really smoothly. We had a great first night and are already in somewhat of our own routine. We had a doctor appointment Monday and my parents were in Monday and Tuesday so it was pretty chaotic. Wednesday we had yet another doctor appointment and Thursday was my first day alone with both kiddos. It was great! We just went with what worked for us and it seems to still be working. Will there be bumps along the way? Absolutely! But so far, so good!

Lexi- we worked for months to prepare Lexi as best as we could for us bringing home a baby brother. While I was in the hospital I am told she asked about me frequently and wanted to come see me and baby brother. She woke up at night looking for me, but got over it pretty quickly. Except one night she asked where I was and YaYa told her. She then said 'we need to go get her right now!' So sweet! She is a mama's girl through and through. She has adjusted wonderfully! I don't know if its her age or that she just gets it but she is doing great. She is a huge helper and doesn't freak out too bad when brother cries. She wanted to hold him constantly when we got home but has gotten pretty used to him now. Maverick has acted out more than she has. She has her moments though. When other people are around she is extra clingy and whiney, and she has been more whiney and crying more in general. When she does that I just give her a little extra lovings and she seems to calm right down.

Overall, I definitely can't complain about our new normal! We have full hearts and full laps and I wouldn't change it for the world. We are so very, very blessed!

Abram's Arrival: Part Two

If you missed Part One you can find it here.

When I finally had enough, around 4:30-4:45 I went and woke Ryan up and let him know we needed to go in and see what the deal was and talk to Dr. H. He agreed and woke up and got ready. We left the house around 5-5:10, but not before Ryan could do a video of him with Olive Oil Pam saying we were in labor. In the background you could hear me asking 'Can we go to the hospital now?' Looking back, it is hilarious and the video will be funny to show Abram but at the time it was annoying. Anyway, Ryan said that we weren't leaving the hospital without a baby in our arms! I was hoping he was right but I wasn't hopeful at this point. We got to the hospital and got checked in rather quickly because they had a slow night. She checked me and told me I was 4cm dilated! I was shocked. Here we go- active labor. We are having an Abram today!! They got my IV in after 4 failed attempts- first the vein rolled, then another vein blew, then they couldn't get in in the vein, and finally they got it halfway up my arm. They started my IV and asked if I was getting an epidural. Most definitely so!! At this point I was uncomfortable but not in ridiculous amounts of pain.

Around 6:30 they called Dr. H and let him know that I was in active labor but he was on his way to Mississippi! I was heartbroken that he wasn't going to be able to deliver me. One of his other doctors in the practice actually delivered and I wasn't too fond of him, but what could I do? So they talked to the doctor who would be delivering and they decided that my contractions were too sporadic and not long enough so they were going to break my water and give me Pitocin. He came in and broke my water around 8-8:15. Immediately I started feeling the contractions way more. They were so much more painful and consistent. I was miserable! I was trying to be strong and not cry but sometimes the tears just came. All I could do was to pray and just try to focus. When they told me my epidural was on its way I was so excited! They couldn't get there fast enough. I finally got my epidural, without having a contraction, Praise God! This was about 8:30-8:35ish. I don't remember times very much because it all happened so quickly and I was busy concentrating. The nurse left me for 20 to let the epidural kick in and started the Pitocin right before she left. I was still feeling pain and my left leg was way more numb than my right- I could feel everything on my right side. They decided to give me some extra meds to put me at ease and outta pain. I was so thankful for that! She went to do my catheter and check to see my progress. She said she thought I would have made good progress just by looking at my contractions on the monitor. When she checked me I was 9 cm!!! I was absolutely amazed!! Then she left and called the delivering OB and came back and I was 10cm and his head was really really low. She wouldn't let me push even though I had the urge to. They got me all set up for delivery and the doctor finally showed up. A few pushes later and Abram was born at 9:35am! It was very, very quick! She said I went from a 4-5cm to a baby in less than an hour!

Some bullet points I want to remember:
*I always wanted to know what it would feel like to feel your water break. Creepy. At first when they broke it I couldn't feel anything except for pain- it really hurt me because his head was still pretty posterior. But after? Every time I would have a contraction I would feel the water gush out and it was disgusting and got old quick.
*Aimy was in the delivery room with us!
*They had a resident that actually did more than the doctor, in my opinion. She came in while I was getting all setup before my epidural and just checked me and asked a bunch of questions. She said we would have a baby around lunchtime. Yeah, she was wrong because it was definitely breakfast haha! She was very nice though kind of strange. Not going to lie she reminded me of Cristina Yang from Grey's Anatomy.
*I was extremely blessed with nurses. All the nurses I had were amazing but the one who actually was with me the most and delivered me? She was a God Send!! Amazing to say the least.
*All these moms that do natural labor? I give them mad props. I could NEVER do it! You go girls!
*Ryan and I think that if Dr, H would have been the doctor who delivered he would not have given me the Pitocin. I think that is what made me go so quickly. With Lexi after they broke my water I went from an 8-10cm in about 30 mins so I was expecting breaking my water to speed things up drastically.

Abram's Arrival into Our Lives

Tuesday, October 15 I had an appointment with Dr. H. Everything was great! I was down 3 pounds for some crazy reason and while I hadn't made much progress, I made some (I was 50% thinned and 1cm dilated). I was actually pretty bummed because I was expecting more since I had been having tons of contractions/BH and was hurting sometimes. I asked about induction because we were worried about his kidney and his cord but Dr. H said I needed to be dilated to a 3 and at least 39 weeks pregnant. (According to his due date, I would be 39 weeks exactly that Friday, October 18). He told me he wouldn't induce me and that if he did I would end up with a C-section and pretty much to be patient. I asked him what if our due date/conception date were right, then I would be 40 weeks on October 19. He said, "If it is, you will have the baby before the 19th'.  I was feeling very defeated and actually spent the evening pouting like my 2 year old! Sad, but true. And I kept seeing everyone else due after me or right at the same time having their babies, so that didn't help at all. After I really looked and thought about the situation I got over it and just told myself it was time to enjoy the rest of the pregnancy and the last of my time with just Lexi.

Wednesday morning I felt fine but by Wednesday night I was having some contractions. They started out irregular but they quickly got consistent. They were about 10 mins apart. This lasted for 3 hours and then they completely disappeared. They were gone for 3 hours when they came back with a vengeance- about  5-7 minutes apart for three hours. Then they went away for three more hours and came back again 2-3 minutes apart. Well by 5am they were inconsistent again I decided it was time to call the doctor. At this point they were anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes apart. When I talked to the nurse she said that I needed to get to the hospital in 30 minutes or less. I got Lexi ready and brought her to her nanny's house and Ryan met me at the hospital. Once we got checked in they checked me and I was still 50% thinned, 1-2 cm dilated, and his head was at a 3 station. I was in early labor. They watched my contractions for a few hours and then released me. The nurse said 'Well we can't give you Pitocin because you aren't 39 weeks until tomorrow. But you are in early labor- it could be hours or days.' I was so mad when she said that! We were talking less than 24 hours. But I just sucked it up and went home. No more contractions for the rest of the day.

That evening when Ryan came home we decided to take Lexi for a walk down to her nanny's house. By the time we got to her nanny's I was having contractions and they were different. I just had a feeling they were the real deal. We headed home to eat dinner and relax and Lexi's nanny wanted to take her to get a special toy and test run her spending the night with her. We got her all ready and she headed out. As we were getting her ready I was having steady contractions that I could really start to feel. They were about 6-7 minutes apart. I had my bloody show at 7 and from then on the pain just got worse. I kept having contractions that were steady but not too steady. Then the contractions were every 2 minutes lasting a minute steadily for 3 hours! Then guess what happened? They spaced out. I was still having contractions every 5-7 minutes but they were so sporadic there was no pattern to them. We stayed up late this night because we were convinced I was in active labor but when the contractions spaced out again I sent Ryan to bed. This was about 11pm. By 1am I was having an emotional breakdown. I couldn't sleep because the contractions kept coming and they were getting painful. I called my mom crying because I was hurting and these contractions weren't doing anything (or so I thought). My mom basically told me to just wait it out and see what happens and call Dr. H first thing in the morning. I decided that was a good plan- I could make it until 5am and wake Ryan up to go to Labor and delivery, then I could see Helman when he did his rounds before he went into the office. 1am-5am were ROUGH. I watched my shows, tried to eat a protein bar, and just stay as comfortable as I could. I tried to sleep again but it just wasn't working for me.

To Be Continued..

Introducing: Abram Ryan!

On October 18, 2013 at 9:35am Abram Ryan entered our world! He weighed in at 6lbs 11oz and 20 inches long. He is absolutely perfect in every way! We are absolutely thrilled he is finally here. We are feeling so blessed! I will let the pics do the talking. Big sister is adjusting very well and loves 'my baby brudda'! Up next- the birth story, which was so much different than Lexi's!

 

So What Wednesday!

I am linking up with Shannon over at Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday!!

*SO WHAT if we made a paper chain this morning to count the days until baby brothers arrival!
*SO WHAT if I am so ready to go into labor at any moment but have 29 days left!
*SO WHAT if I am addicted to google and checking out things I am diagnosed with.
*SO WHAT If Lexi has a big sister class this Saturday and I more excited about it than her.
*SO WHAT if we are having brinner for dinner tonight because deer sausage was the only thing I could reach in the deep freezer and I am fresh outta dinner ideas.

What are you saying SO WHAT to this week?

Trusting God

I have thought for days about this post and whether I wanted to write it and actually hit 'publish' or not. I am not really sure why I have struggled so much with it. I think it is because if I type it and put it out there it makes it more real, and it just seems easier to fight with myself in my own head with my own thoughts about it. Alas, I have decided to just do it. This is a part of our story and Abram's life, so I am going with it.

From the beginning this pregnancy has been completely different than Lexi's. Deep down in my heart I knew from the beginning Abram was a boy. Call it what you will but I just had that gut feeling. Was I in denial? Heck yes! I was still shocked when we found out for sure he was in fact, a he! When we went to our first ultrasound/appointment with Dr. H we found out that I have a heart murmur. Weird because I have never had a heart murmur before. But we also found out It could be completely pregnancy related but we had to get it checked, just to be safe. Dr. H likes to err on the side of caution, which I absolutely love about him. He truly is an amazing doctor and I wish he could be my general practitioner. I was also having some strange chest pains so it was definitely best to be safe. Well after two cardiologist visits, an ultrasound of my heart, and a CT scan we found out that it indeed is pregnancy related and will not affect my pregnancy at all. Praise God! What a blessing.

Well, fast forward to 21 weeks when we had our anatomy scan. I had a new doctor at this point because the commute was getting to be too much (an hour and a half each way with no traffic) and I liked her enough. During the routine ultrasound they found that Abram's kidney had some abnormal dilation but it was mild. They would recheck it at 32 weeks. We didn't really worry too much because she assured us it was completely normal and that it happens in half of her pregnancies- so much so that she didn't think it should even be considered abnormal. She said sometimes they just take a little bit longer to develop and it should clear up on its own. Well God had a different plan and we ended up moving back to be closer to family this year and that is when I switched back to Dr. H. God has had his hand in this since day one.

So  I had my checkup with Dr. H around 23 weeks and I asked him if there was any way that we could do the ultrasound to double check that kidney at 28 weeks instead of 32. He happily obliged. Fast forward to 32 weeks- Dr. H's ultrasound tech did the ultrasound and found that not only was kidney still dilated, but it was bigger than it was when they first found it. Insert panic. I saw Dr. H directly after and he explained a few things that It could be and decided it would be best for me to see the high risk doctor that Friday. I left with the name of what they thought was wrong- hydronephrosis and did as much research as I possibly could before my appointment Friday. I went armed to see the high risk doctor (Dr. M) with all of my questions! Little did I know just how pointless that was. Dr. M's ultrasound tech was doing the second level ultrasound and asks Dr. M's nurse 'Can you go get the doctor please?' Come to find out Abram has a cyst inside his kidney which is causing the dilation. This is a wait and see type of situation. We don't know why it is there, how bad it is, what is causing it, what it means for Abram's life. I left feeling more lost and confused than I had in the first place. The doctor wasn't very reassuring at all. I had an appointment to double check his kidney in 6 weeks to see if it got worse (I would be exactly 35 weeks at this appointment).

Last Friday was my second appointment with the high risk doctor, Dr. M. Ryan was supposed to join me but we thought Lexi might be sick so he stayed home with her, just to be safe. Plus, it was a crazy early appointment 7:30 so I think he wanted to sleep in :). So we get in there and the ultrasound is doing her thing again and starts getting a little nervous and is asking the nurse 'Do you see that?', 'I can't believe we missed this last time!', 'Check her chart, is it in there?'. Well then the doctor comes in, same exact thing. 'I can't believe we missed this!', 'How did we miss this?' At this point I am freaking out. What the heck is going on? So I ask. Apparently I/Abram have an issue with the umbilical cord- single umbilical artery. In English this means that a typical umbilical cord has two vessels and an artery and looks like a mickey mouse head, but ours has one vessel and one artery. I asked them what this means and they said that if they would have found it I would have been monitored much more closely because it leads to small birth weight babies. Oh, and after asking he informed me Abram's kidney looks to have grown a little. And he mentioned to the ultrasound tech and nurse that it looks like it may be extending into the pelvis or something like that. He officially released me from being 'high risk' and sent me on my way.

I went home and researched it and freaked myself out, of course. So immediately I called Dr. H to see if I could move my appointment up. Well he happily obliged and I saw him today! Praise God everything is perfect with him, except for his kidney which did grow a little bit. That will be examined once he is here. He is measuring great and Dr. H said if I last til my due date he will likely be an 8 lb baby! Eek. Not sure how I feel about that, ha! So the wait is officially on. If my water breaks by some crazy chance or I go into labor at any time from here on out it will be Go time!! We are thrilled. Come on Baby Abram- 30 days or less!