Pledge

I realized that Isaac is over a week old and I only have a few pictures of him since we came home as opposed to the many taken of Peter on a daily basis. I know that the first kiddo usually gets the lion's share of pictures but I don't think that is fair (and I am an oldest.) So I am really going to strive to document Isaac's life as best I can. So here are a few pictures from this last week.

Daddy and his boys-notice daddy is the only one asleep! Isaac so far is such a good sleeper! Hooray! How he sleeps through Peter's little tantrums that have started since I came home from the hospital or his big brother's not so gentle love pats that he bestows on Isaac's head every time he passes by him I will never know! But he does and I am grateful for it!

Things that are Isaac at the moment:

• He HATES being cold and getting his diaper changed.
• He slurps when he nurses
• He only spits up once a day, usually in the evening and I swear he stores it somewhere and lets loose because he and I usually have to change our shirts afterwards.
• He smiles when he is sleeping
• He is a rooter-he will practically bend over backwards or side to side looking for food.
• He has super long fingers

Isaac Day 3 and 4

Friday was a long day of waiting to hear results and to find out if I would get to stay overnight as a self care room with Isaac since I was getting discharged that evening. (Which I did end up being able to!) Thankfully Alan and Peter were able to come and spend most of the day with Isaac and I. For those who may not know, I hate needles and it just was so sad to see Isaac with his IV in and his little flipper board to hold it in place.

We found out Friday evening that everything came back negative and that it must have just been a contaminate in the first culture. So that evening at 11:30 pm they gave him his last dose of antibiotics and took out his IV. On Saturday morning my mom came over to watch Peter and Alan came to pick Isaac and I up from the hospital. Here we are just waiting for the paperwork to be complete so we can go.

Here is Isaac resting at home after a long morning. We are all so glad to be home, and Very Thankful that nothing was wrong-even though we spent some extra time in the hospital and had some emotional episodes. We are all home now with our perfectly healthy and happy little man who's only worry is to survive his big brother's affection! :)

Isaac-Day 2

Day 2 dawned and I was a little more rested (yay!) and after speaking with the doctors found out that Issac's preliminary blood work came back negative! Hooray! So we were looking at being discharged that evening to go home. Alan had gone home last night with Peter and my parents were taking the day off to spend with Peter so it was perfect. Thankfully since Alan doesn't have many classes he is also able to take some time off this pregnancy so he will be at home to help out the first few days! :)

And then the bad news....right before lunch the nurse came in to tell me that although he tested negative for Strep his blood culture just showed something that looks like Staph and that since these things can progress so rapidly they want to get him on iv antibiotics right away and that they are taking him to the NICU for the 48 hours until they can either a) rule out staph or b) confirm it in which case he will be in the hospital for up to 7 days. Talk about a shock to the system! Here I am holding my perfectly healthy little boy who has passed all other tests and now they are telling me he might have a staph infection! And then they take him away! Needless to say-I cried, so did the nurse, I have never felt so helpless before...it was almost like a piece of me was missing. By the time Alan got to the hospital I was a wreck ( I am sure the post labor hormones didn't help any.)

After waiting for a few hours we finally got to go to the NICU and see him. I hated that he was hooked up to an iv and other monitor wires but I would rather be safe than sorry. Thankfully my dad had some oil with him and he and Alan were able to give him a blessing. I will never forget the peace that came over me during that blessing. I knew Isaac would be ok, that he was being watched over by someone far better than just the hospital staff. (Who were great by the way)

The end of the day was hard since Alan and Peter had to go home without us and we still were not sure how long I would get to stay with Isaac, but since he was still doing so well we were very optimistic.

Isaac-Day 1

Isaac had some special visitors his first day. Grandma M brought big brother Peter to the hospital for a visit. Peter thought his fingers were pretty funny for some reason and was very gentle in showing his attention. I don't think he understand fully but he does know that the baby's name is Isaac and that he is his brother...not that he knows what that means but I am sure he will figure it out!

Peter was especially intrigued with Isaac's hat...

...which he decided that he needed to try on!
(Peter was a hit with the nursing staff-especially the tie)

His Aunt A and cousin E also stopped by later in the evening to say hi.

It was a long day for both of us between all of our visitors and then all of the hospital stuff that needs to be taken care of-I was thankful to get a little sleep.

We will find out in the morning if Isaac's blood work comes back ok and if so then we get to go home.

Here at last!

Isaac has arrived!

So here is the story-Tuesday night I woke up at 1:06 am with what I thought in my half asleep state was gas. 5 minutes later after I go to the bathroom, get a drink of water and then lay back down I think what if that was a contraction...and then another one starts and I realize it was! So I get up and walk it off trying to determine how far apart they are. When another one hits a few minutes later I wake up Alan and said get the car started we need to go to the hospital now! We get dressed and in between contractions I call the doctor, our doula and my sister to let them know and then we are in the car. It was freezing cold, but at least there was no fresh ice or snow to deal with!

My contractions started getting closer together and harder as we are driving and as Alan is stopping at one of the many stop signs on our way to the freeway I tell him to run them all because I was scared we were not going to make it! Somewhere along the ride I remember feeling my water break and I was thinking the is progressing MUCH faster than the last time and man do those contractions hurt (I would not suggest laboring in the car, it has to be the most uncomfortable place ever.)

We make it to the hospital and as much as I am relieved I am also still afraid this baby is going to drop out on the floor. We make it up the two elevators to the LD registration and once again even though I preregistered they can't find me in the system-annoying! (Next time around I think I will go to the hospital and sit there while they put me in the system) To the receptionist's credit she was trying to hurry as I am bent over a chair trying to will my contractions to slow down. When a nurse comes to get me she tells me that they are trying to get a room ready since they have been very busy and they are all full or dirty! Fantastic. So we walk to the closest triage room that they are trying to get ready and I get that feeling that all who have had a baby remember I am sure...and I inform the nurse that if they don't get me in a room now this baby is coming out in the hallway. So she and Alan grab me and rush me into the room, I get on the bed they had just wheeled in, they get my pants off and 2 minutes later at 2:06 am Issac was born. No doctor, no doula, just the nurse and Alan. She was a great nurse-I will forever be grateful for her. A few minutes later my doula and the on call doctor that was just down the hallway arrive and about 10 minutes later my doctor arrives to do the "clean-up." Which I was grateful for since I don't have fond memories of that part with Peter's delivery.

Despite the crazy mad dash to the hospital and my body pretty much just spitting him out, Isaac was born just perfect. Almost the exact size as Peter. He weighed 7 lbs 13 ounces and was 20 inches long. All fingers and toes intact and with dark curly hair.

Our biggest concern was that I had tested positive for Step B this go around and obviously did not have time to get an IV let alone the antibiotics to help prevent Isaac from contracting and developing any problems so after we all got settled in they had to run some blood work on him to make sure he was going to be ok.

I do not recommend the lightening speed labors that my body seems to produce but I am thankful that everything went well, that we made it to the hospital, that Alan was home, there was no traffic and that my sister and mom were able to take care of Peter while Alan and I welcomed our new little man to the family. What an entrance!

I will post more pictures and give more updates but I wanted to at least get the basics up here while I had a minute.

Still Prego

Well, the worst of the storm is over I think and we thankfully had minimal ice and snow here so we are all safe and warm. The main roads are pretty clear so we won't have a problem getting to the hospital when the time arrives. The sun even came out for a few hours today and I took Peter out to play while I chipped the ice off the car so I can actually use it.

Here I am at 38 weeks.
Is it me or does my belly look MUCH bigger this time around? Like I am smuggling a watermelon?