THA SMIFF'S: Jonah continued...

Monday, April 30, 2012

Jonah continued...

Motherhood and the creation of life is such a miracle. I feel pretty blessed to be a mom... it's not easy and sometimes pretty stressful. Well OK, a lot of the time it is. But that doesn't make me love it any less. I am so grateful for these two beautiful boys I have.

Here are some of the deets on Jonah's birth. Well, on April 4^th I was doing laundry… had Ben home because he was feeling under the weather and I wanted to take him to the doc because I was afraid he had a cold and I didn’t want him to get his baby brother sick when he arrived. Our appt was at 12:15 so it was just he and I at home. After getting some stuff from the dryer I came in to use the restroom and that's when my water broke. I called Ryan and the nurse, Ryan asked if he should come home to which I responded quickly and loudly (not yelling though, hehe) "YES! NOW!" and the nurse confirmed my water had broken and that as soon as Ryan came home I needed to get to the hospital. A couple of things about this, I was set to be induced the 6th had he not come on his own- but I REALLY wanted to go in to labor on my own. In fact, I prayed about it a lot. It was REALLY important to me because I was totally induced with Ben and really wanted to experience the whole going in to labor thing naturally. And sadly, my normal doctor wasn't on call yet- he was going to be that Friday but Dr. Hirsch was on call. The nurse assured me that he was a really nice guy and would be wonderful, which was comforting.

While we were alone, Ben came in to see what was wrong with me in the bathroom and I told him “The baby is going to come, I need you to get your clothes on RIGHT NOW” and he kind of started to whimper like he was worried and I said “mommy’s ok, don’t freak out”. So when I came out of the bathroom he said to me “mommy, I got dressed and I’m NOT freaking out”. Hahaha… he’s a funny kid. Hillary arrived and helped keep Ben distracted (and me a little bit calmer than I would’ve been) and helped grab a few things for me to take with to the hospital (all the while she is about 9 months pregnant as well!). Ryan zoomed on home, and his dad (who was luckily off work for the day) drove over to pick Ben up and they got here at the same time as each other. So my water broke at about 9:50am and we got the hospital by 10:45. Ryan’s mom met us there. Unfortunately, this was all the day before my parents were to arrive! I called my momma on the way and we cried together because I really had wanted her there with me during all of it. She was mad at Jonah for not waiting just ONE MORE DAY! I called Ben's doctor on the way to the hospital to see what we could do for him, in case he had something contagious since I obviously couldn't make it to his appt. The nurse was kind of laughing at me because I was calling during all of this. She said "um so you're on the way to the hospital? are you like... having any... you know, contractions?" haha! I told her not yet, just slight discomfort. (BTW- Ben just had allergies, thank goodness!)

So we got to the hospital and then in to our room and that's about when I started having contractions. So basically, to make a long (and otherwise boring) story short, they gave me the epidural when the contractions started getting more frequent and painful and then after that- they slowed way down. This epidural experience was A LOT different than when I had Ben. I didn't believe people when they said they had their epidural and didn't feel a thing because I TOTALLY did feel EVERYTHING with Ben, but this time... I understood! I did have to have a second dose of it because I could still feel some discomfort on my left side, which was weird since I was laying on my left side practically the WHOLE time I was in labor. The epidural relaxed me a lot and so my contractions slowed way down- so they gave me a little pitocin to speed things up. This eventually made little Dude Jonah's heart rate drop and so they turned the pitocin off and gave me something to actually completely stop the contractions. That was TERRIFYING for us. All the nurses rushed in frantically pushing buttons, watching the monitors, turning me from side to side, rubbing my belly to get him to react, etc... it was really scary. Our nurse was awesome and so comforting and let me cry after he was stable again and reassured me that he was fine... the contractions were just too much for him. I progressed quite nicely after that, and started having the contractions again and a MUCH smaller dose of pitocin to keep them going. I even took a nap! At about 7pm Jonah's heart starting giving us issues again, so Dr. Hirsch decided to go ahead and deliver, we were close enough and it was that or have a possible c-section, which again terrified me. He also mentioned forceps which I was totally against, but he assured me that all would be well and to trust him. Jonah's head is pretty large... so there was really no other option unless we did c-section and I was bound and determined to not have to do that. So we did one practice push- which I could barely feel because of the epidural. Then a few mins later once everything was set for me to go, I pushed once... then twice and about half way through that push the Doc told me to stop and he would do the rest and out came our Sunshine! I was hysterical... LOL I was so happy to see him, and to hold him and hear him. It was amazing. As they took him away to clean him up and do all his measurements and stitch me up- thunder rolled in! Not sure what that's symbolic of, but it was still pretty neat! He came in with a vengeance I suppose! Both of us were healthy and we were able to come home two days later with both our boys in tow. It was a surreal experience having two kids in the back of the car!

So now it's almost a month later, can you believe it? We had to put Jonah on sensitive formula because he's had some stomach issues with just the regular kind, and no I'm not breastfeeding. He likes to be held, but luckily not ALL the time. He doesn't like his pacifier like his big brother did... it just kind of soothes him, once in a while. He's got a temper just like his big brother did. He's been pretty darn alert ever since he was born. Recently his eye sight has started to clear up and he can see things pretty well and will follow a hand or object if in front of him. One of my favorite things ever is when I'm feeding him and he's staring at me and we lock eyes... melts my heart. And even with that huge noggin of his, he's got a lot of strength in his neck and back and can hold his head up really well. He's taking 3oz and at times wants more after that. He eats about every 2 hours, sometimes 3. And there have been a few nights that he will do 4 hour stretches, even a couple of 5-6 hour ones between feedings. He has started to enjoy laying on the floor on a blanket or his activity mat and "play". Kicking, waving arms, wiggling the body, swatting... He hasn't quite started to coo or make big noises but he's getting close to. He acts like he could roll over any minute, so maybe he'll do that earlier than Ben did! He's growing pretty fast, and is now starting to be too long for his newborn clothes. His hair is lightening up A LOT, his eyebrows and lashes are a lot lighter than Ben's were and it looks like he'll be pretty blonde, or at least that's my prediction. He doesn't have as much hair as Ben did, we could do a little mohawk with Ben but no go with Jonah. He's got the cute little notch on his right ear, just like his big brother and daddy have.

Speaking of his big brother, Ben has done remarkably well with Jonah and having him around. I'm kind of surprised really. He acts as if Jonah has always been here. He loves to gently kiss him and rub his soft head. He likes to see if he's awake, and always lets me know if he is! The first time he met him, I think that he finally understood that there WAS a baby in mommy's tummy (we weren't just making it up) and here he was! Just like that first day he was around him, he still loves to see him and check on him and see what he's doing. He's had his own little 4 year old issues... but I don't really think they have to do with Jonah. He's lonely for his friends and daycare routine, we have him out now since I'm on maternity leave and it's so expensive to keep him there. I took him for a couple hours last week so he could play and his little buddies were ECSTATIC to see him and he was so happy to have his groupies around him. He keeps telling me he misses them. He was entertained for the 2 1/2 weeks my parents were here, but now that they're gone- he's a little bit lonely. Luckily we have a full week this week so he should get a little more interaction with kids his age and the outside world.

I again, am so in love with this new little person we get to take care of. His cheeks are just as kissable as I hoped they would be, and I can't believe how lucky I am to have two handsome boys. And just like Dr. Hirsch said when we told him this was our #2 boy, "you're going to have a house full of penises!". I'm out numbered! hahaha