3 weeks old

So it's pretty different the 2nd time around, we keep having to remind ourselves to take pictures whereas I think we had a couple hundred of Lily by week 3.
Going from an established routine to bringing home baby has been a real adjustment. Luckily I have a great husband and he was able to stay home for the first 2 weeks. I don't know how a new Mom could do it otherwise. The first week I was able to just take it easy and take of Henry while Jesse took care of, well everything else basically.
The 2nd week we tried to get some sort of routine going so that I wouldn't be completely overwhelmed on his first day back to work. It's safe to say that we weren't really able to get a routine down (no shit!) but we had a really nice time together as a family and were able to cross some things off our to-do list.
It was a fantastic 2 weeks and we all missed Jesse when Monday morning rolled around and off to work he went.
I am about 5 hours away from completing my first week on my own as a Mom of 2 and there were definitely more good times than bad.
Lily is an awesome helper and has really taken to Henry. He is just the sweetest baby, so good at eating and sleeping and he really isn't that fussy. I mean he has had a couple of moments, but for being 3 weeks old they are few and far between.
He is on a pretty good sleeping routine, to bed at night between 8 and 9 and then up for a feed between 1AM and 2AM then up again around 5AM or 6AM and then down again until about 9AM. It's pretty phenomenal actually, and he doesn't require being rocked or fed to sleep, he goes back in his crib awake most times after a night feed and I go back to sleep and don't hear from him until his next feed.
I don't know how long that will last but I'm loving it right now, I am so much more rested than I was when I was pregnant. I mean I'm up for longer when I am up in the night, but in-between feeding I actually get to sleep for 3 or 4 hours straight whereas at the end of my pregnancy I couldn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time from being so bloody uncomfortable.
Nursing is excellent and because of it I've been able to drop 30 pounds in 3 weeks. Beyond the ease of breast-feeding, what with never having to wash/sterilize a bottle, grocery shop for formula and making sure it's the right temperature (although in saying this I really don't know what formula feeding entails) the incredible weight loss that is possible I just don't understand why anyone would ever opt not to breastfeed. And I'm not talking about a woman who has had difficulties and just couldn't do it, I'm talking about a woman who would never even consider breastfeeding for whatever reason.

At the time of actually posting this, Henry is now 5 weeks 3 days, it's safe to say that things have gotten a little busier and I'm hoping to be able to post once a month at this point.

A Christmas Baby

My water broke at 7PM on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't until 8PM that I accepted that it had happened. I was so upset that Lily was going to have to be shipped up to Grandma and Grampa's and that we were going to miss Christmas morning with her. She had been so excited all week about Santa coming and it was like her first Christmas as the previous two she wasn't really old enough to understand.
Jesse and I made our way to the hospital where we were told that nothing was happening and to come back if my contractions became 5 minutes apart. At that point I had yet to have a contraction so I was pretty sure we were going to have to report back at 7 the next morning to start induction.
After a completely uneventful night we woke up early and had a little breakfast before heading to the hospital. Once we got there I asked if I could have the oral inducing drug so that I could avoid being hooked up to IV and monitors and so I could walk around in an attempt to have gravity help me invite this baby on his birthing journey.
For 4 hours Jesse and I (sometimes just me) walked the maternity ward track, we figure it was about 30 laps. But by 2 o'clock and after 4 doses and not a single contraction our nurse, Julia, said it was time to move on to the oxytocin IV.
I was upset but in the end you just have to accept the situation and move forward. I did however refuse to accept the 'no pilates ball' rule they had and insisted that I needed it for comfort and to remain upright to try and get the baby out. I would not just lie in bed waiting again, it didn't work out so well last time.
They set up the IV at 3 o'clock and by 5:30 I started having some fairly intense contractions. After spending some time on the ball I asked for the bed to be adjusted so that it became like a chair so I could continue sitting up but would be more comfortable.
By 6:30 I began to question whether I would be able to continue without an epidural. The contractions were coming very quickly and were considerably more painful. Julia said she would examine me and see where I was at, she wanted to know the number I was looking for to decide whether or not to have the epidural. I said an 8 and I wouldn't get the epidural, she told me I was at about 7 and a half.
She told me she thought I would have the baby within the hour, but I just couldn't bring myself to believe her as my previous experience had been 13 hours after being induced, not 4 or 5.
At 7 Julia's shift ended and Patty took over, by this time I was getting quite scared and was convinced that I wouldn't be able to do it without an epidural, but I couldn't bring myself to say yes for sure I wanted it. By 7:15 I finally called for the epidural, I can't believe they actually gave it to me, it was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had.
The pain was incredible and my body was involuntarily pushing the baby out as I was hunched over the bed and the anesthesiologist was telling me to hold still so he could put the needle in my spine. I kept asking 'how do you not push' and Patty just kept saying 'you just breathe through it'.
Jesse just held my hands and kept repeating over and over 'Suzanne, look at me, look at me, you can do this' (or something to that affect, I was on another plain at this point). I just kept coming back to his face and looking in to his eyes to help me back to the room and concentrate on getting through the pain, terror and need to push.
The anesthesiologist said he would be back in 20 minutes to check on me to see that everything was ok.
Turns out we didn't have 20 minutes, as soon as the drugs kicked in I was on my back and getting ready to push the baby out. It was such a different experience this time around, while the intense pain of the contractions were alleviated, the intense pressure and urge to push was still there. It was unbelievably uncomfortable, but at least I had control over the pushing and really felt like I was making it happen.
After about 10 pushes out popped Henry's head and I thought 'I've already had this baby', he looked exactly like Lily Pearl.
It was an absolutely amazing experience and I'm so glad that I was able to actually feel everything, to be in control of my body and to feel the sensation of working with the contractions to push him out.
He was born at 7:48PM on Christmas night weighing 8 pounds 14 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long and perfectly perfect.

Isn't he sweet!