Lots of delays. So sorry. Two kids is for sure different than one. I wouldn't say tons harder or anything, but definitely less naps. Thankfully Oliver started sleeping way more at night- and I praise him all day long for it. Makes for a happy mom thus making for two happier kids. Lola is better at independently playing now that she is ALMOST three but that girl has more energy than… hmmm… what has lots of energy? Anyways TONS and I just can't always keep up with her. I feel bad- but she is about to get enrolled in some extra curricular activities! So cute… we both are excited.
Okay hospital talk: Have to have this in writing for journaling sake.
So after I delivered Oliver Thursday night, we moved up to our room a few hours later. They took some extra blood work because he had a fever and they wanted to know why because I was fever and infection free. At this time, we really had no clue what Ollie’s name would be and Oliver wasn’t even in the toss up. He was a good eater right away and the lactation nurses were a huge help… I felt a little taken advantage of, but I guess that’s how you feel the entire time during labor and delivery! Ha! I love how with the second baby, I knew what to expect and I felt much more prepared and much less modest! Not sure that was a good thing for anyone, but at least I felt more comfortable. This time I could bathe on my own and boy as soon as I could walk and stand without falling I showered! I was up bright and early Friday morning (actually only slept 45 minutes that night!) to shower and get all pretty for Lola because I wanted her to have fun visiting Oliver and not be worried about me. She was so cute and everything went perfect. Really. She was in love. But I wore myself out that morning and the rest of the day I felt pooped. And by the way- I knew what to expect this time around and luckily everything went even better than with Lola so it was a nice relief. The highlight of it all was finding out we had a boy, meeting him, then seeing Lola with him!
But little did I know that I would be staying through Monday. Ollie had jaundice, but not the normal kind- it was due to an incompatible blood type between him and I. He started phototherapy Friday night and stayed on them 24/7 until Monday morning. The longest days of my life! I don’t know how mommas are so brave and strong with children who are sick. Breaks my heart. I knew he would be fine eventually it was just a matter of how many days it would take… He was allowed to stay in my room and I was actually discharged a couple days before him, so my room became his room. It was so nice to be able to stay with him and they actually wouldn’t take him to the nursery except to get checked out since I was there… but it was so hard to leave Lola for 4 nights. And she knew I had told her only 2 days, so she was a little shocked too. She saw me on Friday but not Saturday but then a lot of Sunday after we prepared her for the lights on Ollie and then Monday she hung out with me for a couple of hours before we were finally discharged! She stayed with mom for the first two nights and that worked out great but then I wanted her to go back with Clay for the 3rd night, thinking it was my last night- so I stayed by myself at the hospital that night. It was such a sweet bonding time for Ollie (who now had a name) and me but the next day I was a wreck. My nurses (now into the weekend) were terrible and I was overflowing with emotions. I was really missing my sweet nurses from the previous days. My mom stayed with me the 4th night and we were on a huge mission to feed Oliver as much as possible to help flush out the jaundice. It WORKED! We were exhausted and when they took him at 5:15 a.m. to check his blood levels- as soon as the door shut behind the nurse, I just sat and wept. I so desperately wanted to go home and had tried so hard to give it to God through the night. A few hours later, a new pediatrician came in and despite his levels not being where the other pediatrician wanted in order to leave, she (new pediatrician) thought they were fine and said after another check that afternoon we were free to go home no matter what the level read, which for the record it was lower by afternoon time! I couldn’t have been more excited to get my family of 4 all together at home! I got up and showered and just sat Ollie by the bathroom door so I could see him, then I cleaned the entire room and packed up! I was ready to go by noon that day, but to bad it took several more hours before being discharged! Geeze. Oh and Lola told me every time she saw me that I said two days, but it had been not two days, not three days, but four days and she had a tint quiver in her lip. She told me not in a complaining type way, but a little confused and a lot sad. UH somebody let me go home NOW! Broke my heart. But finally...
Going home was wonderful and I remembered with Lola I cried a lot the first week or two. I guess that is hormones leveling back out or something, but I totally did the same this time around. It feels so strange to cry uncontrollably- some things made sense while others didn't. Haha. Glad that has faded a lot! I am thankful that Ollie’s blood type was at least negative because if it was positive on top of B, then he would have been even sicker. Some babies need transfusions and more treatment. It can really cause problems too that are irreversible. So we were lucky.
Lola has done wonderful and going home was a happy moment for everyone. Much relief on everyone's part. The first time I ran an errand without Lola she asked me if I was going to be gone long and how many days? :( I told her I would be right back! Yay! She really has adjusted well and done amazing with her little brother. She definitely had to get use to him being a him, but she didn't mind too much. Just took a week or so for her to get used to the idea. The first night home she was sick and so I gave her a breathing treatment and some medicine. That night I was up all night with her and not Oliver because she was literally an insane person. She did crazy things all night long that made no sense and we had no control over. It was so bazaar. Clay was ultra frustrated and I was super patient. I love how God always gives patience to at least one parent so we always balance each other out. I don't know how I had patience or even managed to stay up. Pure, 110% adrenaline only. I just loved on her a lot that night. She threw up everywhere, peed all over me, coughed all night, etc… not to mention these crazy meltdowns, hysterical crying- unlike anything I had ever seen. Clay and I were thinking WTF has happened? All because we gave her a brother? I figured the breathing treatment had a part in this. The next morning I took her straight to our new pediatrician and he listened to her chest and said "Oh my!" What?? What is it?! I was nervous. Full blown asthma! What? She had asthma?! Yep- allergy induced asthma which makes so much sense now. Old stupid pediatrician didn't every realize this! And breathing treatments 4 times a day for two weeks and then for two more weeks we are doing them once a day. But doctor said between the medicine we used in the breathing treatment, cough syrups and not feeling well- her heart rate was really elevated and explained the bazaar night we had and we should not be seeing that side of her again. He switched the meds for us and said no cough medicine! Makes asthma worse. So that day we head back home looking forward to starting the treatments and tornadoes came through the area and knocked out our power, but luckily missed our house. It was a crazy week for sure. But luckily everyone settled in on Wednesday and it's been great since then.
I am writing all of this in bits and pieces and probably flows terribly but I have to write all this down so I don't forget one day! I keep leaving out so many things I want to journal about just trying to get this whole story down.
I'll summarize a few things:
1. Ollie is over 9 pounds now and at 3.5 weeks old he is in size 1 diapers now and most newborn outfits don't fit him anymore. Sad. He had recently started to smile a tiny bit but seems to be more reaction than gas. He seems to more intensely study my face too and I love it. He loves to be talked to, but doesn't like to be woken up when he is sleeping. He likes sleeping on his tummy so we do that for naps. Loves baths. Drinks a ton. And I am exclusively breastfeeding. 3 months is the goal then I will decide from there. It's going good. What else do you say about newborns? Lol- I am sure I said a lot more about Lola at that age. Haha- I just love him though and am thrilled to have a boy. I look forward to the summer with two kids.
2. Lola is obsessed with brides and grooms right now so I got out the DVD of Clay and I getting married today and let her watch it. She LOVED it! Got mad if I fast-forwarded through it and said that her and "Oliber" really wanted to be there. I cried through the whole thing. Oh goodness… blaming that on PP hormones. I also let her look through the scrapbook I made of our wedding and stuff. She looked at each and every picture and asked lots of questions. It was sweet.
3. Her birthday is this week and having a family get together to celebrate this weekend. Somehow Lola started the idea of us dressing up like princesses to her princess party and we all have gotten on board. I bought a dress today from GW and am wearing it along with some princess accessories. Only for my kids would I do this. It's a pink dress and doesn't zip all the way up so hoping in a few more days it will. We will see. Fingers crossed. Clay and Nick are even dressing up. Nick is Aladdin and Clay is still deciding.
Okay that's it for now. I am posting this and then tons of hospital pictures in a different post. Oh and I am using a Mac so I am having to get use to their stinky blogging apps. Not near as good as WLW. Tears.
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