Life with two...

... is fun but tiring! :-) For a bit there they were sleeping great, but then they both decided to switch off their waking up times at night so that mama was getting up every hour (or less). Yawn. We were a bit nervous about how Chloe would respond to another littler one around, but she loves Zachary to pieces, and loves giving him kisses, worries about him when he cries, and wants to check up on him all the time. It has been more of separation anxiety type worries that she is acting up about, but those seem to be getting better - minus the sleep! :-) I didn't like being away from her one bit (or Dwight for that matter, but he was at the hospital more than she was), but we were glad Hannah was able to be here to stay with her.

So we are still "bunkering" down here at home (we like to avoid going anywhere until baby is closer to six weeks, other than quick trips to the store or doctor where we keep them covered up - Chloe only had one cold her first year and we think that "guarding" her immune system those early weeks had a lot to do with it!) We did get to take an unexpected trip to the Urgent Care though, last week when Chloe's elbow slipped out of joint when she and I were playing. I felt terrible for her, but the nurses were so great about it all, and she was back to her normal self in a jiffy! Zachary slept the whole time we were gone - he is one lil' sleepyhead (usually!). :-) Overall, he is a very content little guy, he has an adorable smile and dimple, too!

I wasn't sure what to expect with his birth and all, but we made it! ;-) We had been told different things about what being induced would be like, so that Sunday (Jan. 2nd) was a long day of nervously waiting. I was expecting the worst! :-P Dwight was so good about comforting me, praying with me, and it was wonderful to think about meeting our baby soon. It was so strange to get to the hospital and be checked in while feeling normal. We got there at 9:00 PM and they gave me my first dose at 9:30 - I was surprised to hear that I was having contractions every three minutes, since I didn't feel a thing. Even with all the raspberry tea and evening primrose I'd been taking I wasn't dilated at all. They dimmed the lights and left us alone to sleep and then I got my second dose at 12:30 (she said I'd dilated to a 1 by then and said that was really good. I thought we were still in for a l-o-n-g day ahead, so I cried with frustration that I wasn't dilated more at that point!), when she checked on us again at 3:30 she said I was at a 4! I was happy to hear that, but surprised since I still didn't feel a thing. So she just told us to try getting more sleep. :-D We did actually sleep - crazy, huh? :-) At 4:00 I started to feel just a bit of pressure, and at 4:30 I began to feel very light cramps. I went ahead and got an epidural (since the anesthesiologist was next door anyways, lol.) and then at 5:00 I started to feel more obvious cramps (not sure where the meds were...), so I woke up Dwight and asked him to distract me. :-) At that point the nurse came in to check on me, and I was dilated to an 8, so they called my midwife to have her come in. She barely made it in time. :-) By about 5:30, I was hurting and the meds weren't doing a thing (so I asked for more, because really, if you are going to have meds, isn't it not supposed to hurt??? :-P) and by 5:45 contractions were coming every two minutes and they realized the bag of water was bulging. I felt SOOO much better once Sharon, my midwife, got there and was able to break it - whew! Zachary's heart rate kept dropping, so I was on oxygen for his sake. He got a bit stuck (just like his big sister had) but thankfully there was no tearing or anything this time around, midway through pushing they had to cut off the cord from around his neck (it was wrapped twice really tightly) and he was born at 6:09 AM on January 3rd. They sure don't describe crowning as "ring of fire" for nothing! ;-P Dwight was great - I'm sure glad they allow Dads in the delivery room nowadays! It was fun to hear that Chloe had a lil' brother! He is so precious to us!

I was able to hold him for a bit, but then handed him off because I could tell I was beginning to fade a bit, so while they checked his vitals and all, I was put on oxygen (my blood pressure went really low). Yay for warm blankets! :-) I wanted to hold him so badly, but was just too weak, so he got some daddy time in instead. :-) I love seeing Dwight and him together! When I was finally up to trying to nurse him, he was just too sleepy and then a nurse thought he looked a little bluish, so she took him off to check on his levels (this was about 4-5 hours after he had been born). We were very grateful that the nursing staff there was so excellent!

After a bit Dwight went to go check on him, and then a bit later I went to go check on them.  Little did I know that Zachary would be on oxygen and we would be in the NICU for the next day and a half! We were so scared, and went through a lot of tissues as we prayed and held each other - he looked so tiny and sad with all the tubing and monitors! {On a side note I think it will be quite a long time before I hear the song "Give Me Jesus" by Fernado Ortega without crying - it came on the radio station that the nurse had playing there and it was such a comfort to be reminded that Jesus was with us and our lil' man!} Come to find out, Zachary's condition of low oxygen levels and a still open PDA valve are quite common - at high altitude - but well, we aren't really from here! Babies just aren't routinely sent home while still on oxygen where we come from! Chalk up another reason as to why one should *visit* Colorado and *not live here*. :-P

Those were some long days and nights but we are thankful he is okay, and that we didn't need to bring any supplemental oxygen back home with us. They were great about letting Chloe and Hannah be with us there at his side in the NICU, and I was known on the postpartum floor as "the patient who wasn't resting and was never in her room." Oh well. ;-) After a few bumps with nursing (he was being formula fed while there in the NICU to get his blood sugar up), he is now a growing, always hungry boy! (He was 9 lbs at his two-week appt.) We love our babies. :-)

Thanks for praying for us! :-D
{I'll post more pictures when able. :-) }