Adjusting to the New Normal

Well, folks, we are two weeks into this family of 5 thing.  The question of the year that I keep getting is “How is the transition going?”  Truth be told, I am not really sure.  How is that for an answer?

My mom graciously stayed with us through last Thursday and man, she was a huge help.  With her here, it was still man-on-man defense.  Now that she is gone, we are on to zone defense.  So, really, we have only been doing it on our own for a few days.  The girls have had their moments, but overall, are doing well.  Thankfully, they haven’t asked for Blake to “go home” yet, a question I heard that some of my friends’ kids asked.  Overall, I am very impressed by how well they have handled everything.

The only hard thing has been the never ending sickness.  The week before Blake was born, I came down with a nasty upper respiratory cold that I had to start taking antibiotics to kick, as well as double pink eye.  When Blake was born, I was still taking drops to make the pink eye go away.  Then, the day after he was born, we awoke to a message from my mom saying that Emerson had woken up with pink eye.  Thankfully, our doctor has Saturday office hours and she was able to take her and get her medicine.

Then, the next morning, we awoke to another call that both girls had started vomiting the night before and vomited all night long.  My poor mom got less sleep that night than we did at the hospital with a newborn.  It took a few days for both girls to completely kick that virus.  Ed got a touch of it a few days later, but thankfully, everyone else was able to steer clear.  Then, this week, everyone including my mom, came down with colds again.  Can we please be clear of all of this already?

Needless to say, through everything, Blake has been a champ and has been so easy – so far, so good.  Here’s praying that it continues and that we can all get and stay well.  We are also so thankful to the Lord for a wonderful support system of friends and church family who have loved us well, provided (and continuing providing) meals, and who constantly encourage this tired mom!  So thankful for the body of Christ!

My little helpers who love to give him baths!

Wearing their “Big Sis” shirts – thanks Gammy!

Loving his monkey wubanub – thanks Denise and Larry!

 

Introducing Blake Edward!

Welcome to the world, Blake Edward!  He was born on January 9, 2015 at 1:35 pm and weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz and 19.25 inches long.  If you are anything like me, you love hearing birth stories, so I would love to share ours.  If you don’t, I am sorry…feel free to skip ahead to the beautiful pictures.

I have been having some contractions on and off for the last week or so, but nothing consistent.  On Thursday afternoon, I had a doctor’s appointment with a midwife in our office, and I fully expected her to examine me, say I hadn’t really dilated (like what happened the last week), and just to go home and wait.  More waiting.  I knew they weren’t even going to talk about inducing me because I was planning on having a vbac (this stands for vaginal birth after cesarean – I had a c-section with Kinsley, a vbac with Emerson, and was planning for a vbac with Blake) and because vbacs are risky, they try not to do anything that may force something that doesn’t need to happen.  But, that was definitely NOT what happened.

When I got through with the monitoring (which they have done the last four weeks due to him having a 2 vessel cord), they put me in the waiting room to wait for my midwife to return from the hospital or until another doctor could see me.  They finally called me and said that Dr. V could see me, since my midwife wasn’t back.  While Dr. V was checking me, he asked “Is his head down?”  I said “Well, I am assuming so, since it has been the last four weeks.”  He moved his hand around on my belly and said “No, it is right here (pointing to the top left part of my stomach).  He has turned and is now breech.  If you hadn’t had a csection before, we could maybe try to turn him, but we can’t with your scar, so we are going to have to do a c-section.  How is tomorrow for having a baby?”  Lets talk about shocked.

Who knew that babies could turn breech at the last week when they have been head down (which the doctor said is not super uncommon especially when you have had multiple pregnancies as babies tend to float longer)?  I knew they wouldn’t take a chance that I would go into labor on my own with it being a vbac if he was breech, and being that I was so close to my delivery date, they didn’t have time to wait to see if he would turn.  So, csection it was.  To be honest, I was really sad about not having another vbac (as the recovery, in my opinion, is so much easier than a csection).  But, I knew that God as in control and for some reason, this was what needed to happen.

So, we went in the next day for our csection.  It was weird walking into the hospital and the operating room not being in labor.  It was painful not being able to eat after midnight when my surgery wasn’t until 12:30.  It was nice being able to plan everything and have things in place before we went in.  The csection went great and he turned out to definitely breech and was a big baby.  Looking back, I am very thankful that Dr. V was the one I ended up seeing, that he knew right away he was breech, and that he was gentle with how he responded knowing I would probably be disappointed.  I am very thankful for the people at Wake Med, in particular those in the operating room who did a great job of easing me into everything and calming my worries.  I am very thankful for a great neighbor who watched the girls so my parents could be there for the surgery.  All in all, I trust the Lord’s plan and we were so excited to meet him.

While in the hospital, we found out that Blake does have a heart murmur that is due to two places not closing in his heart that should have closed when he was born and one place being there, a very small hole, that shouldn’t have been there.  The doctors did an echo to make sure that the heart murmur wasn’t anything major and they were pleased with what they saw.  They think that all the places will close on their own and that nothing major should come of it, but we will have to go see a pediatric cardiologist at UNC in a few weeks so they can follow it and make sure it closes.  They also want to do an hip xray at 6 weeks old to make sure that his hips are aligned properly since he was breech.  Again, not concerning, but just something to follow and check on.  Needless to say, this little boy is still causing drama outside the womb!

He is a precious bundle of joy and the girls are absolutely loving him, especially Kinsley who asks to hold him 1500 times a day.  We are so thankful to God for this precious gift of life and all the joy he has already brought us.  It truly is amazing to me how the Lord makes children in their mother’s womb and how he fashions everything to bring them into the world.  Thank you for your love, support, and prayers as we have welcomed him into our lives.  If you are close by and haven’t met him, please feel free to stop by and do just that.  For now, enjoy pictures.