Mom, Mama, Drew and Jack

Mom, Mama, Drew and Jack
the adventures of 2 boys and their moms

Monday, September 30, 2013

Flying Solo

MJ went back to work this morning....booo hooo!  We were so fortunate that she was able to take 5 weeks off and that we could be together as a family for that time.  I have another 5 weeks still which will be lovely.

I currently have 2 sleeping boys, I am showered, the dishwasher is unloaded, dinner is in the crockpot, and I have had breakfast.  Hopefully the day continues to go as smoothly!

I have to laugh because when Drew was an infant MJ would head of to work and leave us in bed snuggling until 8 or 8:30 in the morning and it was lovely.  Not so with 2 kids!  I was up with Jack at 6 and made sure I pumped and showered before she left.  There is no way with 2 kids that I would be able to leave them alone and shower!  Drew is too helpful :) and Jack would scream the whole time.  Oh how different life is with two.  I wouldn't change it for the world, though!

We had a fantastic "last hurrah" over the weekend before MJ went back to work today.  We enjoyed an art class and playing at a local indoor play place, had lots of fun at a local fair, went to Tumble Time, celebrated with some friends as they officially adopted their 20 month old son who they brought home from the hospital and went apple picking with our local family equality group.  The weather here has been gorgeous and the leaves are turning their beautiful hues of orange, red, and yellow.

I'll leave you with a couple of fun pics from our weekend...


Friday, September 27, 2013

Fall Foto Friday

S and Jackie teamed up to create the Fall Foto Fridays challenge.  I love these and look forward to taking photos with a challenge!

 
We went to a local fair today and so I will go with the sweet treat side of the challenge.  Drew is enjoying an ice cream with Nana at the fair!
 


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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Monday, September 23, 2013

One Month

Jack -

You are ONE month old today. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting to meet you and now you have been here for a whole month.  You truly have completed our family and we are over the moon excited to be the Moms of two boys.  We are thankful each and every day that you are a part of our family.

This month we enjoyed all of the wonderful end of Summer and beginning of Fall activities that living in New England gives us.  You made your first trip peach and blackberry picking, took an overnight getaway, went to the beach, and celebrated Aunt Becky's and Mama's birthdays.  You were busy in your first month of life!

Your big brother Drew absolutely adores you.  He loves to hug and kiss you and sing Rock a bye Baby to you.  When you are crying, he is right there to tell you that everything is OK.  Drew also makes sure he supervises your diaper changes, baths and clothing changes.  He already sticks up for you like a big brother should.  We can't wait to see how your relationship as brothers grows and develops.

You are starting to really recognize voices and you do a great job listening to people talk to you.  You like to watch the leaves on the trees blow in the wind and you seem fascinated with shadows on the wall.  You have shown us that you have a bit of a temper and can be a bit fussy, but we work hard to soothe you in any way we can. 
You eat a TON and you are growing like a weed to prove it!

You wore newborn clothes and diapers for about 2 weeks.  You grew so fast that we moved quickly to size 1 diapers and 0 - 3 month clothes.  At your one month pediatricians appointment, you weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces and were 23 inches long. You are in the 95th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight.

We love you more than we know, Peanut, and we are so very glad that you are part of our family.  Happy One Month Birthday!

All Our Love,
Mom, Mama and Drew

Friday, September 20, 2013

{this moment}



{this moment}
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember
 

Friday, September 13, 2013

Birth Story

Here it is....Jack's birth story....

We went to our 39 week apt and I was DONE!  I knew that they would not let me go past my due date due to a history of high blood pressure as well as my "advanced maternal age"!  So, at the appointment that day I begged for an induction SOON!  The midwife called the Birth Center and they put me on the books for the next day (Thurs 8/22). 

We were instructed to call the Birth Center around 6:30 in the morning and we did - they told us to call back at 10 AM and talk to the day shift.  So, we called back and they told us to arrive at 3PM - boy it was a long day and a long wait until 3!  My mom took Drew and we went out to lunch and made our way to the hospital.  When we checked in, the girl remembered us and the "Hatched by 2 Chicks" shirt that we took Drew home in!  We got to our room and waited and waited....finally around 5:30 the back up to the back up on call Doc came in and excused her water park attire as she was called in from there, and go me officially admitted! 

We did two rounds of "ripening" and monitoring on Thursday night and then decided to get some sleep.  At about 2:45 in the morning I was woken up by a contraction and they continued through the rest of the night.  Not too painful, but enough to wake me up each time.  At 6:30 in the morning I coughed and thought I pee'd myself a bit.  Went to the bathroom and then when I stood up from the toilet had more leaking - I realized then that it was most likely that my water broke.  Called the nurse and she confirmed that my water had indeed broken!

Contractions got steadily stronger throughout the morning and I definitely had to stop and breathe through them.  My parents arrived at the hospital, my brother and sister in law were on Drew duty and we were ready to have a baby!  After noon time, the contractions definitely got a LOT stronger and more painful.  My nurse asked if I would like a popsicle and I said sure - she gave it to me, I remember it tasting really good, looking at the clock and seeing that it was around 1:45 and handing the popsicle to my Dad to hold as I had another contraction coming on.  At that point my labor was fast and furious and I never finished that darn popsicle! :)

Here is where things get hairy...I am going on what I can remember (I was quite in the zone) and what has also been told to me.

We were having trouble keeping Jack on the monitor so they placed an internal monitor to watch his heartbeat - which had to be replaced twice as it fell off as I contracted.  His heartbeat was dropping dangerously as I was contracting.  My nurse called the midwife in as well as two other nurses.  At this point they decided they needed to start an IV to get some fluids into me and the baby.  That is super fun to keep your hand still while they insert an IV - which took three tries and 2 nurses. As soon as they got the IV in, one of the nurses told me I needed to get up on my knees and over the back of the bed to work on getting the baby down.  They also gave me oxygen at this time. 

At this point the contractions were completely unbearable - I didn't remember them being that painful with Drew and I was pleading for some relief.  They gave me a shot of something in my IV to take the edge off - which I promptly told them didn't help (it probably did, but I was in agony!  I found out later that they had started Pitocin because they needed my to deliver due to the stress on Jack and that is why the contractions were so crazy and painful.

The midwife also called a Doctor in at this point - 3 nurses and midwife and a doctor - I knew the baby was in distress and things were not good when there were this many people in the room.  The midwife's exact words to the Doc were, "I want you in the room so I have your hands available and not somewhere down the hall."  Yikes!  Just about when I thought I was going to go crazy, the midwife told me that I only had a lip of cervix left (which she stretched for me) and we were going to start pushing.  I was elated to hear that as I feel that even though pushing hurts - it is productive and doesn't seem as bad to me as just working through contractions.

After only a couple of pushes, the midwife told me that if I didn't get the baby out they were going to have to vacuum it out - I told her that I would get my baby out!  On the next contraction I delivered his head and then one more push and out he came.  Jack was born at 2:49 - only an hour after crazy labor had begun.  They placed him on my belly, I asked what it was  and then all of a sudden they cut his cord and took him across the room - Jack was not breathing.  They assured us that he had a heartbeat but was "stunned" and forgot to breathe.  MJ quickly went to be at his side while the nurses worked on him and I kept asking if he was OK - it was the scariest time of my life!  It seemed like an eternity to us, but we were told that it only took about a minute to get him breathing on his own.  Longest minute of our lives!  I was also told later that I pushed for less than 10 minutes to get him out!  Jack's APGAR scores were 3 and 9.  Scary at first, but no problems from then on - we were so thankful.

After he was breathing and pinked up - they brought him right to me for some wonderful skin to skin time - after about an hour and a half, they weighed and measured him and everything checked out perfectly.  I took a shower and Drew came to meet his little brother.  He was a bit hesitant at first, but was awesome by the next day!  Jack was a champion nurser and was nursing by late evening!  We've had a few hiccups with nursing, but for the most part, it has gone incredibly well.

We are so thankful to have our two boys and our family truly is complete-  we can't imagine life any other way!

{this moment}














{this moment}
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment
.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember .
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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Some Things

Just some thoughts swirling around...

*Holy Cow....2 kids is about 10 times the work!  It is amazing and worth it, but nothing gets done in a timely manner!

*Big Brother really loves his Baby, but he is also 2 1/2 and we have the lovely screaming meltdowns about something trivial once a day.....sometimes we are even lucky enough for it to coincide with Jack needed to be fed or having his own fussy time.

*I love being on leave during the Fall - it is my favorite time of year!  The bonus is that MJ took a month off too so we are just loving being together as a family for an extra month. 

*Jack is becoming more and more alert and interactive.  I love watching him grow and change every day.  Speaking of growing and changing - at his 2 week peds appt.  he had already grown an inch and gained a pound.

*I can't believe Drew is on the verge of turning 3!  How has the time slipped away???  He really is a joy and so much fun.  I love experiencing things with him and seeing the excitement and wonder through the eyes of a child.

*I will get the birth story written down soon!

*A couple of pics of the handsome dudes -

Wednesday, September 4, 2013