Judah Benjamin

Hello Everyone!!!

Well, one of my resolutions this year is to try and blog more consistently. I was pretty consistent (by my standards) when Kallie was a baby, and I want to be that way with two kids now, b/c I am horrible at documenting/organizing pictures etc. so this is my 'scrapbook' so to say:)

As you all know, our beautiful baby boy, Judah Benjamin joined our family on December 16th. He is one month old today! I can't believe a month has gone by already, but in other ways, it feels like he's been with us a lot longer! I think because so much has happened since he's been born (Christmas, my family has come and gone, New Year's, starting daycare again) that it feels like he should be older...not to mention that he's the size of a 3 month old:) I had a midwife appt. Thursday, and he weighs 12 lbs 7.5 oz! His 3 month sleepers are starting to get snug...I'm guessing they'll last another week:)



I want to share how this last month has been, from the 'birth story' up to having a one-month-old. It's been a pretty amazing month, so far nothing has been too hard, although sleep deprivation is just starting to catch up with me:)

The Birth Story (might be TMI for some:)

I went off of work (I run a home daycare) the last Friday in November, because my due date was Dec. 6th, and I was hoping beyond hope that I would go early, or at least on time this time:) When my due date came and went, and then two days later I had an exam with my midwife to see if we could do a 'stretch and sweep' and she told me that my cervix was COMPLETELY closed, I was devastated! I so, so badly didn't want to be induced with this labour (I was with Kallie, and it was awful). Because I had midwives, I could have gone a lot longer than last time before I would get induced, but the because of the circumstances of this pregnancy (Christmas, family coming, opening the daycare at beginning of Jan.) I didn't want to go that far overdue. I was really stressed out about trying to figure out if I would be induced or just wait. But my prayer my whole pregnancy had been that I would go into labour naturally, and although I really wanted to give God a timeline, I kept praying 'natural and whenever is YOUR timing'. So I discussed with my midwives an induction date, and we originally set one for Tues. the 15th (one week after the initial exam). The rest of that week I thought about it more and more, and b/c I had another 'stretch and sweep' scheduled for the Monday (14th) I decided to bump my induction date back to the 17th. I went in on Monday, and finally I was dilated and 50% effaced! I had a stretch and sweep that day, and then came back first thing Tuesday morning for another, more aggressive, one. I spent the day with my friend Sheena, we ran errands, hung out, and everything felt totally normal.

At around 6:30, I had my first extremely mild contraction. Lyndon, Kallie and I were all home, just spending a quiet evening together. For the next 2 1/2 hours, I kept having contractions, quite sporadic and mild. We put Kallie to bed at her normal time, and by 9:00 she was still wide awake, singing and playing in her bed. I didn't want to call Lyndon's parents to come get her right away, b/c I'd never gone into labour naturally before, and wasn't sure if we were a few hours or 24 hours away from giving birth. Just after 9:00 though, I knew my contractions were strong enough and close enough together that no matter how far the baby was away from actually being born, we'd be heading to the hospital tonight! I was SO excited that I was going into labour naturally, and so thankful to God that I had felt prompted to push back the induction date!!! So we called Lyndon's mom, she came and got Kallie, and as Kallie was leaving I had my first intense contraction! (perfect timing...a child should never see their parent going through that!) At that point my contractions started coming 3-6 minutes apart, so we paged the midwife. She told us to come into the hospital to be examined, and we got there around 10:30. She examined me, and I was already 5cm and the contractions were coming really fast (every 2-3 minutes). Between 10:30pm and 1:12 am I was in agony and went a little bit crazy:) I know it was a very fast labour, but it was awful (just like every woman's labour, I'm assuming:) The worst part was that Judah was posterior (a sunny side up baby as my midwife referred to him) which caused two things to happend: 1. I had the urge to push from about 11:00 on, but had to fight that urge b/c I wasn't ready, it was just the pressure his positioning caused and 2. From about 11:30 on, I didn't have a break between contractions. After each contraction, the pain only mildly subsided, but it still felt like I was having a contraction, which was horrible. Lyndon and I had a good laugh the next morning, because I was saying some pretty crazy things:)

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am all about natural childbirth. I want absolutely nothing to do with a c-section, epidural, or major drugs (just to be clear, I have no feelings about other people's childbirth choices, those are just my preferences). WELL...I was BEGGING for all of the above:)! Yep, even a c-section:) The midwives brought me demoral and gravol (at which point I yelled, 'WHAT IS GRAVOL SUPPOSED TO DO?!?!?' I was a real treat;), but I knew and they knew that I really didn't want demoral. I felt so sad at that point, b/c I wanted pain relief so badly, but I just kept thinking and saying, 'I don't want to drug my baby, I don't want to make my baby drowsy, etc.'. I kept coming close to throwing up, so the midwife gave me gravol intravenously. It made SUCH a difference, I can't believe it! It didn't do anything to manage the pain, but up until that point, I had been gagging, almost hyperventilating, screaming and yelling (my throat was sore and my voice hoarse the next day...it was that crazy!) and thrashing around. I was expending so much energy on all that, that everyone was afraid I wouldn't have enough energy to push the baby out. The gravol completely calmed me down, and for about the last hour, even though I was completely aware that it was just as painful, I went into kind of a trance, and just lied still and moaned. Lyndon said I became a completely different person and they couldn't even talk to me I was just so focused. I was so thankful I had midwives who knew I really didn't want drugs, respected that, and helped me move past it. Throughout my whole labour I kept apologizing to them, because I was aware of how crazy I was being, but I just couldn't stop.

When I started pushing, I got pretty hysterical again (at one point I yelled at my midwife, 'GET HIM OUT NOW!!! IF YOU CAN SEE HIS HEAD, JUST REACH IN AND PULL HIM OUT!!!):). And I must have moved around quite a bit, because I also smoked Lyndon in the face (he was forgiving;) AND accidentally ripped my IV out...not a pretty site! But thankfully, I only had to push through about 6 contractions, and he was here;)!!!



It was THE BEST FEELING ever to know that I finally had my sweet baby boy, was not pregnant anymore, and labour was over!!! Lyndon's mom came to the hospital and gave Judah his first bath (she's a maternal/newborn nurse, and was able to do the same with Kallie), and she and Lyndon left around 3:30. I tried to get some sleep (not easy after labour, especially when you just want to snuggle your little baby:), and then Lyndon came back around 9am. We were hoping to leave right away, but the midwife ended up in a labour, so we finally got discharged at around 1pm. 12 hours after giving birth, we were home and settled in (one of the many amazing things about having a midwife!) Lyndon was so, so sweet, and just kept telling everyone how amazing I did:) I felt pretty embarrassed about how I had acted, and finally said to him I thought it was nice that he was making me sound better than I actually was. He turned to me and said, 'You pushed out an over 10 lb. posterior baby completely naturally...you really did do amazing!' It was so nice to hear:) He was completely lucid and had to deal with my craziness, and was still proud of me, I love my husband:)

This past month has been a whirlwind! Kallie came home from Oma and Opa's that same afternoon, and was SO SO excited to meet her baby brother! She definitely knew that she was coming home to the baby being OUT of mommy's belly, and it was one of the best moments of my life seeing the two of them together for the first time, and seeing how thrilled she was:) That has continued ever since, the highlight of her day is seeing Judah, spending time with him, and giving him hugs and kisses:) She always tells him she loves him, and helps mommy with him lots!:) There are definite pros and cons to all different age gaps between siblings, and her awareness level and interaction with Judah is definitely a pro for the age gap we have (not to mention mommy's sanity...this is just the right amount of time apart for ME:)!



We had a great week at home as a family, and then my parents and sister arrived to celebrate Christmas with us! It was SO SO wonderful having them all here and they just loved seeing Kallie and Judah. It was nice that Kallie had so much attention over the holidays (from both sets of grandparents and her auntie) while we were just settling in with Judah. He was so big when he was born, he nursed all the time for the first couple of weeks, which was a bit hard on Kallie. So to have my family here was a huge help! And of course, my parents did so much around the house and took care of us really well!

I started daycare again on January 4th, and so far, it's been great! I had help every day the first week, which was completely necessary and I don't know what I would've done otherwise! This week I had a bit less help (it'll keep decreasing over the next couple of weeks) and I really am doing ok:) Judah is sleeping lots during the day, and I have really great kids (who are all Kallie's age or older) so that makes things pretty easy.

Judah is such a wonderful little baby:) He's a great eater (obviously) and has made nursing really easy. He's sleeping a lot, but whenever he is awake, he's completely content. He started smiling about a week ago, and it's so much fun! He's really smiley, and has started cooing and making the cutest little noises when he smiles with a big open mouth:) I love having a little boy:) He's a very touchy baby, and LOVES to be snuggled all the time. He's very alert and aware, and will crane his neck and move his eyes in the direction he hears noise coming from. He loves to look at light, and will fight sleep like crazy if there's light to look at:)

Lyndon and I both love being parents so much, and it's just so incredible to have two kids now, and one of each! It definitely feels different this time around, but I'm not sure if it's because I have a boy, or it's because he's my second child. One thing I'm finding is that it's way easier this time! I didn't really have a hard time with Kallie, but at around 4-5 weeks with her I still wasn't going out or doing much, but with Judah, I went Boxing Day shopping (for the first time in my life!) when he was 10 days old:) And I've started going to the gym already, and also started Weight Watchers (lots of baby weight to lose this time!). I especially love being out and about with both my little munchkins, I'm such a proud mama:)!

Thanks so much for everyone's support and congratulations...my pregnancy is finally over, and it was more than worth it!!! I already know I want another one:) Just not right away...;)