quick notes from the field

Ollie still sleeps ALL THE TIME. Dylan definitely never did anything like this. She also never caused anything like the amount of laundry he has generated. I don't think the diapers we have are designed for his body shape, if you know what I'm saying. He's slowed down with the eating a bit and is looking less like a cute little troll than he did the first week.

Dylan has gone from a somewhat alarming level of clinginess to what I would imagine is a more typical reaction of switching to her Pure Evil setting a lot more often. It's actually a lot easier to take. Her teacher noted that "this is a new side of Dylan I'm seeing." I think this teacher has been great with Dylan while she's been having a hard time, although Dylan did come home today saying "[Teacher] said she would have to call santa because someone made poor choices." Heh.

chub chub chub

Ollie has focused his recent efforts on packing on weight. We were at the doctor for a weight check this morning and they asked me if the number could be correct because he has gained so much since we left the hospital.
He's starting to stretch out his sleeping and waking a bit more, which makes mommy less grumpy.

Dylan is showing signs of settling in a bit, and she really does seem to think he's excellent company. She reads to him and covers him up and babysits while mommy and daddy hit the town. There are just so many (2) children in the house, it's really weird.

One week

Thanks everyone for all the comments and e-mails. It was so much fun to have you all following along with us.

This really does seem to be easier the second time. We feel like we know what we're doing, the nursing is going well, and I'm starting to be able to walk farther without getting dizzy and tired. Ollie is sleeping about 20 hours a day, but is highly strategic with the other four so as to prevent me from sleeping more than 2.5 hours in a row.

Dylan is doing great with Ollie. She really likes having him around and helping to take care of him, and has apparently not made any connection between her emotional upheaval and the actual baby. She is not doing great with me, however, and maintains a laser-like focus on trying to keep me from napping or being away from her for any amount of time. Aaron has to pretty much tackle her to let me get any sleep at all during the day. If she realizes there is a choice between being with me, or even near me while I sleep, and leaving the house to do something fun, she will always choose not to leave. And forget about trying to distract her if you are someone who is not Aaron. I am looking forward to preschool this week. Perhaps being off for four days in a row has contributed to some of the intensity.

I turned out to be right about Ollie being big, but it may have been sort of a coincidence because he's mostly really tall, which isn't usually what happens with diabetes. The pediatrician said he didn't look like the babies of diabetic mothers usually do, which I thought also, and he's actually sort of scrawny looking, although chubbing up quickly. None of the newborn stuff fits (Kate: Aaron, do you think this outfit fits? Aaron: Well, only if it's supposed to be culottes) because he's so tall and his shoulders are really wide. The doctor actually offered to be his agent, but I'm not sure this is going to persist into adulthood. He's been easy to take care of so far, especially in comparison to the anxious and emotionally volatile bigger one attached to my leg.

deja vu

And now it's time for a round of...

birth story

This is an easy birth story to write because all I have to say is that pretty much everything was the opposite of our experience with Dylan. In retrospect that was even worse than it seemed at the time, even without the hemorrhage part and accounting for the second babies are easier to get out than first babies part. Except for the enormous baby staging a sit-in and having to be negotiated with to come out, that was about the same, this time with a half pound more enormity.

Seriously though, this was so straightforward it's boring (= not complaining). We went in at 8:30am and did logistical-type things for a couple hours. I started having contractions right away when they started the pitocin late in the morning. They broke my water. I could barely feel the contractions, but they still seemed to be working. I got an epidural pretty soon anyway because Aaron and I still think so fondly of the last one. I contracted away all afternoon while we hung out and watched tv. Aaron alternated between pacing restlessly and sitting restlessly in the rocking chair. I mostly had this odd feeling that I could tell when the contractions were changing my cervix, but that I otherwise couldn't feel anything -- I could have predicted each check before they did it (and did, in my head, but it would have been more impressive had I said it out loud). I started getting uncomfortable around 6:30pm and was ready to push a little after 7. The attending and the nurse both stayed with me the whole time I was pushing, which lasted about a half hour. This time they kindly removed the whole placenta. Then the baby was out and they let him just hang out on my stomach and snack for an hour before doing all the meds and measuring, except for doing the weight right away because we were all dying to know how chunky he was. I didn't think he looked as big as Dylan did, but that was incorrect. And...that was that. Everyone was so nice and supportive and communicative the whole time, and the whole thing was over in less than 12 hours, and now I don't have to be pregnant anymore, which was starting to seem unsustainable anyway.

I couldn't let things go without a little drama and tried to pass out when I stood up a few hours later, but they revived me with modern medical smelling salts. Seriously, they shoved an ammonia wand in my face. No one had mentioned that I had lost a borderline-excessive amount of blood during the delivery because they didn't want to worry me, so I had no idea that I might be pretty anemic. I took to my bed for the night, but I can walk around a bit now. I have actually felt great the whole time, but anticipate grumping out later this week as I get less and less sleep.

I thought Ollie would look just like Dylan, but he really doesn't. He has a very round face and Aaron's ears and a lot less hair, although it's the same reddish blond as hers. He acts just like she did as a newborn though. He is really alert and can hold his head up and track stuff. They gave him a 10 on his second APGAR score, which they don't usually do for sort of superstitious reasons but they couldn't resist because he was so pink and happy. He ate great for the first hour, then took the next 14 hours off from eating as he gurgled out fluid all night. He has been doing great with the nursing since then, also unlike his sister, although such was his enthusiasm that he only let me sleep for an hour last night. You're not supposed to compare your kids, right? That's not going to work out here.

born yesterday

we are limiting his access to credit so opportunistic salespeople can't take advantage of his obvious inexperience.