So, we now have two kids. How weird is that?
Let's see...first of all, I weighed myself yesterday: 229.2. I guess there is something to be said for childbirth and rapid weight loss. I was probably about 245 when I had Ian, which is about the same as when I had Brendan. They didn't weigh me when I went into the hospital, so I never got a final number. But that means I came out ahead, really, in the weight department. I started at 237, so I had a net gain of about 8 lbs. Nice. Of course, with the weight loss at the beginning of the pregnancy, down to about 217, I ended up with a gross (isn't it always?) gain of about 28 lbs. With Brendan, I started at 206 and ended at 245, so this time things came out a little better. Hopefully I can get rid of as much of the baby weight from both boys, and then start focus on losing the general fatness I have accumulated in the past six or seven years. My goal is really to get down to somewhere below 160 lbs. It's going to be a long road, and it'll be hard work with the boys, but hopefully I can do it.
I have to say that having the planned c section this time was way less stressful than last time. With Brendan I had a day and a half of contractions and very little progress toward delivery before the doctor finally decided to do the c section. This time, she pretty much told me from the beginning that we should plan to have the c section, and that if I happened to go into labor before that we'd play it by ear. So, I might have had a random contraction or two during the week before the c section, but definitely didn't go into labor. On the day I hit 39 weeks in the pregnancy, I went into the hospital at about 1 pm (I did have to call ahead of time and wait for an OK because they'd had a busy week and didn't have any beds available at the beginning of the day). They got me into the room, gave me my hospital gown, and left me to change. Then they came in, got some baseline readings for bp, bloodwork, and the baby (which is when they identified that I was having a few contractions here and there), and then hooked me up to an IV, gave me some anti-nausea medication (which didn't work last time or this time--I barfed both times), and rolled me out to the operating room.
No epidural this time, but a spinal block, which was pretty nice and not as "itchy" as the epidural was. Again, I was amazed at how fast things went. My operation was scheduled at 2:20, Ian was delivered at 3:02, and I was back in my room at 3:30. Ian was smaller than I expected, coming in at 7 lbs 8 oz and only 19.5 inches long. I have to laugh at the fact that I view him as "small", since he really wasn't that small--it's just compared to Brendan that he seems little. He isn't as long-torsoed as Brendan is; his legs are more proportional to his torso. And his feet aren't as big as Brendan's were. When Brendan was born, the nurses commented on how big his feet were. Ian can actually wear the little newborn socks I had bought for Brendan that Brendan never wore.
The nurses got me up and moving later that evening. A little hard to sleep that night, since they kept coming in to check on us about every hour. Probably the best thing was being prepared for the fact that I wouldn't be likely to be able to breastfeed right away. Heck, we're ten days out now, and I haven't been able to pump more than about an ounce. I'm still worried that I won't be able to breastfeed (and he hasn't figured out how to latch on yet, which makes it harder), but at least I've been able to get him a little breastmilk, and I know that formula won't kill him. I have ordered some of that fenugreek that I tried with Brendan last time; it did seem to help my production a bit, so we'll have to wait and see. But Ian might need to switch formulas, regardless, as he seems to have a major spit-up problem (and some gas issues). He's on the Enfamil Newborn formula right now, but I may ask the pediatrician for some recommendations on Wednesday when we go in for our next appointment.
Big brother Brendan doesn't quite know what to think about Ian. He loves to say "BayBEE" and knows that is Ian, but he's not super interested in him otherwise. He has tried to take his bottle and his blankets a few times, and almost jumped on him one evening (which was pretty scary), but otherwise he's been gentle. He likes touching his nose. I just hope he stays gentle. We have tried to make sure we've paid plenty of attention to him, which was made easier by the grandparents being here for the past ten days (they left today, unfortunately); it'll be harder this week. But what has been most frustrating to Brendan is that I haven't been able to play with him much or pick him up. I'm going to try to be good and not pick him up until Friday (which will be two weeks after my surgery), but I can't make any guarantees. I'm at least able to get around a lot better now than a few days ago.
Anyway, we are now the parents of two kids. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that. I had enough difficulty recognizing myself as the mother of one boy; now I have two. Weird. Wish me luck...
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