Two Weeks In

These two weeks of having Chris home has been wonderful.  As I've been trying to figure out how to feed this extremely large second child of ours and hold him all. the. time., Chris has been on Zoë duty mostly.  Keeping her entertained, getting her dressed, off to daycare, ready for dinner, dealing with her tantrums, her whines, her cries, her two hour bedtime marathons.  Oh, yeah, and he's done a ton around the house, too.  He got the wood flooring put into our hallway (yay, only a bit more carpet left in the house!) and worked on the yard a bunch.  We can't wait for summer BBQs!

Transplanting sunflowers with Daddy.

Zoë has been a wonderful big sister so far.  She LOVES holding, hugging, kissing, helping Oliver get his pacifier back into his mouth.  She is very concerned with "brudder" and he's been a good motivator for her: "You can hold Oliver if you get into your jammies RIGHT. NOW."

Helping feed brother. 

Loves her baby doll

She is having a hard time, as a typical two year old might, doing ANYTHING without a whine or, our personal favorite, "hode on", when she's busy with something she'd rather be doing.  She takes FOREVER to do anything.  It is like pulling teeth to get her ready for bed or out the door in a timely manner because she'll grin her big grin and then run away from us.  I told my girlfriend the other day that I have been a parent for over 2 years now and I finally feel as if we're "parenting".  The amount of planning and forethought that needs to go into staying two steps ahead of this toddler is exhausting!

She is still absolutely delightful and the cutest thing ever.  She has been going full-time to daycare throughout the month of April and then will cut back to two and a half days a week through July.  The routine is good for her and I know the attention she gets there will be helpful in abating her jealousy of her brother and bad behavior as a result of having the share her time with mom and dad.

Smiling Oliver

Oliver has proven, so far, to be the easiest newborn ever.  He eats, sleeps and poops, and that is truly it.  He rarely cries unless he's hungry or has a poopy diaper.  ***edited over the weekend to read: Just kidding.  He has a witching hour in the evening between about 6-8...fussy and hard to calm down, but once he gets there he's fine!***  He has been sleeping incredibly well at night.  I even have to wake him up every four hours to eat.  I think I will enjoy this newborn phase a little more this time around.  Maybe because I have a toddler to entertain, too.  Maybe because I know it's our last baby.  Maybe because I am not as panicked about every little thing and second guessing myself about every decision.  Either way, I've enjoyed snuggling up with him on the couch during the day when Zoë is at daycare and Chris is working on some house project.

I've healed really well from the c-section, I think even faster than last time.  All that's been plaguing me is the initial pain of breastfeeding, but I have a feeling that's even on the decline (knock on wood!).  Oliver is a healthy eater and has a great latch, so as long as this pain goes away we should be all good.  I'm dreading tomorrow as Chris is going back to work after taking two weeks off.  It has been wonderful to have him home both to spend time with him and to have him be on Zoë duty while I'm constantly feeding my huge newborn.  Luckily, this first week back is just me and Oliver since Z will be at daycare.  Whew...we'll ease into a routine, I guess.

Moby Wraps for all!

Meet Oliver Finn Seaman!

Oliver was born on Saturday, April 11th at 6:47pm.  He weighed 10 pounds, 1 ounce, had a length of 20 inches, and has a full head of auburn red hair!

Mom loving Oliver the night he was born

 Last Friday I had an NST and ultrasound scheduled in my OB's office, so I went to that thinking, "Everything is fine, no contractions, no movement, no anything.  With the induction scheduled for monday, we'll just plan on that."  The NST went just fine and I loved listening to his heartbeat.  As soon as the tech started looking at the ultrasound she said, "wow, there is no fluid in there, like, barely any at all.  There's no way the doctor is going to let you wait until your scheduled induction on Monday."  At which point, I was VERY excited, even though my OB was out of town and one of my favorite nurses who was working Friday was off at 7pm.  I saw another doctor in the practice who said I had enough time to go home, grab my bags and Chris, who had left work already to meet me at home, go give Zoë a kiss at daycare (grandma picked her up later), and then head to the hospital!  Chris was a saint and picked up Jimmy John's for me on the way home since I hadn't had a full meal since 10am and I was absolutely panicked about not eating for forever.

First family photo

When we arrived, we met with the doctor on call (also not my OB, but very, very nice) who gave us some induction options.  He got as far as "One option allows you to eat for the first 12 hours, the second option does not" and I picked the first option with eating.  That involved a Foley Bulb insertion (UH, terribly painful, thankful nurse Jehna was there to suggest Fentanyl for me) that would dilate me to 4 cm (I was still only at 1.5) by the morning so we could start Pitocin.  At midnight, the bulb fell out on it's own which meant I was 7 hours ahead of schedule, but we still waited until 7am to start the pitocin (so I could have breakfast!).

By noon, my contractions were getting closer together, but I really didn't really feel them very much.  The new doctor on call, Dr. Cohen, wanted to get a pressure catheter in so we could monitor the contractions from inside (much more reliable source of contraction data).  She did this (very painful thing) twice, and the damn thing didn't work either time.  It would read tests when I took a deep breath and coughed, but never an actual contraction.  While weird, the team said they didn't really like these new catheters and they would continue to watch my contractions with the outside abdomen monitor.  My contractions pretty much stopped being found even on that, so they lowered the pitocin and started over again.  By now, I had had an epidural (after the trauma of the catheter experience, I didn't want to feel it if they had to do it again AND my contractions/cramping was getting uncomfortable), so I couldn't feel a thing.  Around 4pm the doctor came in and wanted to insert another catheter and when she did said that there was a lot of unusual bleeding and, knowing my history with blood pressure and the fact that the pitocin wasn't doing anything for my dilation or getting regular contractions, she would feel better going to the OR and getting the baby out.  I was OK with that!

Ready and excited to go!

So, by 6pm I was being wheeled down to OR 2 (Zoë was born in OR 1) and being prepped for a repeat C-Section.  Because of my first c-section and the surgery for the hematoma I had the day after Zoë was born, Dr. Cohen was worried about the scar tissue on my abdomen, but confident that because this wasn't an emergency c-section that she could take her time in getting baby boy out.  Oliver was born at 6:47pm and after being held up over the curtain, they started cleaning him up and Chris went over to take pictures and watch.  I could hear his voice over by the clean-up area and loved hearing him talk to our new son even though I couldn't see anything.  All of the nurses in the OR kept saying, "he's so big!" "look at how huge his hands are!", etc.  Even Dr. Cohen said, "uh, yeah, didn't you feel how hard it was for me to get him out of your abdomen?  I really had to wiggle him to get him out of there!".  Finally, one of the nurses said, "he's definitely over 10 pounds" and I believe my response to this absolute stranger was, "shut up, he can't be!".  They didn't weigh him in the OR, but when they did back in my room, and sure enough...

First picture with Oliver!

He is wonderful!  And of course, HUGE and definitely an unexpected size.  Dr. Cohen said that the surgery went extremely well, all of it, and that probably the reason I wasn't progressing on the pitocin was because his EXTREMELY BROAD SHOULDERS were preventing his head from hitting my cervix to soften it up and dilate it properly (of course).  While his head MAY have been ok with the VBAC, his shoulders definitely would not have been.  :)

Zoë meets Oliver for the first time

Big sister is absolutely in love with him, of course.  She insists on holding him every single day and loves to give him hugs and kisses (sometimes gentle, sometimes with a running start).  I looked back at the blog to find out when Zoë hit the 10 pound mark and it wasn't until about 4.5 months.  So, we think we have about a 4 month old on our hands right now.  ;)  He's HEAVY to hold and definitely doesn't fit into any newborn clothes or diapers.  It was super nice to clean out half of a drawer of his clothes as soon as we came home.

Big sister assumes the holding position

Kisses!

We've got an appointment with a lactation specialist tomorrow at the hospital, but he's really eating very, very well (at least to me he is...in comparison to Zoë, anything is good I suppose).  I'm dealing with the usual aches and pains that comes after a c-section (pain, swollen feet, and now the joys of starting out breastfeeding) but so glad to be home and enjoying our new son.  Zoë is going to daycare full time until the end of the month so she's enjoying her usual routine while we relax and take care of baby brother at home.  Chris is, as always, being a wonderful caregiver and ensuring that I don't overdo anything and that I take care of myself.  He's working from home, too, which will allow him to stay home next week, as well, which is wonderful!  I wish he could work from home all the time (although, he might not get anything done if that were the usual case since I keep trying to talk to him).

Grandma and Oliver

Grandpa with Oliver

Baba, Dedo and Zoë with Oliver

Beautiful Teta with Oliver

Awwww...

Thank you for all of your messages and well wishes as we welcome Oliver into our family.  We are enjoying relaxing as a family and getting into the swing of things as a new foursome, so if you don't hear from us right away we're probably in the throws of a toddler temper tantrum or a newborn poopy diaper/hungry scream.  

Oliver's first tubby time at home

Things an Overdue Pregnant Woman Does Not Want to Hear

40 weeks 5 days, and over it.

1.  "You should try______________________" (fill in the blank with-->have sex, eat pineapple, take a walk, eat spicy food, nipple stimulation, castor oil, massage, or anything else, really).  This baby is going to come when he's ready, none of that is proven to work, and it just annoys us when it's the twelfth time it's been suggested today.
2.  "How are you feeling?"  I know this is super well-intentioned, but guess what, I'm feeling overdue.  That's how I'm feeling.  I'm feeling like I was two weeks ago except worse.
3.  "When is he going to be here?"  If I knew the answer to this question I would post it publicly so you would all stop asking me.  I'm anxious, too, but I have no control.
4.  "You look really uncomfortable."  I am, thanks.

I'm over being pregnant, for sure, and I'm really excited to meet this little boy, but now that we have an induction scheduled for Monday, I'm feeling like there's a plan in place, and if you know me at all, you know I love a good plan.  :)  I have an NST scheduled for tomorrow afternoon just to check on him.  If he comes before then on his own, even better.  :)  We just need a baby and a name and we'll be all set as a family!

Cousins

Angela is here in town and had planned to be here when baby boy was already born, but now she'll get to be here for all of the hoopla.  It was really fun to spend the day with her yesterday and just be lazy pregnant ladies together for the afternoon.  She is 30 weeks today and looks like a gorgeous pregnant lady.

In Zoë news, she's now recovered from her bought of Bronchitis last week (seriously?!) and back to daycare, which seriously makes her so happy.  She has come home every day this week from daycare and been in the best mood.  Ah, it's so good for her.  Her new skills include: counting to 10 (she can do it consistently!  She counted all 10 eggs in her easter basket at the Marina on Saturday, it was very exciting!), opening candy and fruit snacks packages on her own (this is a problem, especially since she knows how to find them in the cupboard in the kitchen) and having a hard time waking up in the morning (she is NOT a morning girl, just like her mother).  She chatters constantly, has been going to bed more easily (not perfectly, but it's better now than it was a week or two ago), and loves to run to the door when daddy comes home from work screeching "Dadddddddyyyyyyyy!".

We went to the easter egg hunt at the Des Moines Marina on Saturday and while Zoë was still not a huge fan of the Easter Bunny, we got some good pictures.  :)  And she was totally into picking up eggs so we had a mini egg hunt in our living room on Easter morning.  She was so much fun to watch and she was actually pretty good at finding the eggs.  Next year I'll actually try to hide them.

Maybe she'll be friends with him next year?

Looking at ducks, a family favorite.

There's one!

Right hewwwwwww!

Grandparents and a spoiled little girl.

Zoë, Dedo and Baba

We had our parents over for brunch and they were kind enough to bring food, too, so that I didn't overEGG(!)stend myself since Chris was a liiiiiiittle bit worried about that (I'm not sure WHY.  I never go overboard with planning or decorating.  Ever.).  It was really fun and such a nice day!

Well, if not before, we should have news about baby boy Seaman on Monday!  :)

Brother?  

39 weeks

Last week's picture

Not everyone's ready for the baby...

Well, we're a week away from brother's due date and there's absolutely no news as to whether or not he's on his way anytime soon.  Chris thinks he'll be here on his due date (the 4th) OR on the 1st as a hilARious joke and I swear he's going to not come before the 9th.  Either way, we're ready.  Hospital bags are completely packed, bedroom is ready, the "getting to the hospital and Zoë to grandparent's house" plan is in place; he just needs to get here!  I really want to finish out this last week at school before spring break, though, to have some good closure to that chapter for now.  The closer I get to my last day at school the more sad I get (and yet, I'm TOTALLY ready to be done for now...but ask me again in the fall when all of my coworkers are going back to school).

Zoë's been sick this weekend (again), so we've been dealing with a lot of clinginess and emotional outbursts.  I'm so glad summer's almost here and that hopefully the long bouts of sickness are almost over.  She has become such a helper.  She loves to help put away laundry, is a good helper when cleaning up, and likes to monitor Fiona when she goes outside to go potty.  She has also started going potty on her own, enjoys turning on the bathroom light by herself and even can get up to the toilet by herself using the stool.  It's pretty great!  Both Chris and I are dreading pulling the diapers back out again for the new baby.  :(

We're still going to gymnastics regularly and Zoë loves it.  She sings the songs from class at home all the time and yells, "Beasties!  Home!" at the top of her lungs in the car randomly which is, admittedly, jarring.  We are so impressed with The Little Gym and would recommend it to anybody.  Zoë loves her teacher, Emily, and will try things for her that we would never do just for us.  :)  We ask her who she's going to see every Saturday and she says, without fail, "Emeee" with a big grin on her face. 

Zoë's first attempt at the bars (nearly three months later!) with encouragement from Miss Emily.

Tonight we dyed Easter Eggs, which Zoë had a great time with.  Here are a few pics of our activities lately, hopefully with our next blog post we'll have more news of our baby boy!

Patiently waiting for the tablets to dissolve completely.

Not as gentle of a drop as would have been preferred.

Putting stickers on the eggs.

Finished products

Help smiling from Dad

"Climbing" outside

Dad was in charge of the trip to the grocery store last week...this is what Z wore.