29

I never would've thought my life would be where it is at 29. I can't believe I have 5 beautiful, healthy kids. I love being a stay at home mom and I'm so glad that the King and I share the same vision for our family.

I had a great day today. It started off at 9am. Yes, that's right 9am. My wonderful kids slept in allowing me to do the same. Sure I was up several times in the night with the newbie, but it still felt great. Especially after the previous night which was a blur of feedings and pumping. The King got off at 3:30 and we went to dinner with my Mom, Step-Dad and little sisters. It was a lot of fun and felt great to get out for just a little bit. It was a Happy Birthday indeed.

Long Day

Today was a very long day. I can't believe I'm actually still up and functioning to be honest. It started early and cold. We woke up to 8+" of snow. Not cool on spring break, very not cool. I had already decided that today would be the day that I would take Buster to get his 2nd PKU so I got everybody up and moving right away. The hospital lab only does the draw between 9-12 and he had to be weighed in labor and delivery first so we had to hurry. Of course everything that could go wrong did and we were extremely rushed. I ended up leaving the house with semi wet hair. It took an extra 10 minutes to get all of the snow off of the car just so that we could safely drive.

By this time it was 11:25 and too late to take the girls to my Mom's so they had to come along. Fortunately they were wonderful and helpful. We went upstairs and he was weighed. 6#'s 10 ozs. Up four ozs from his birth weight. At only 8 days old this was a huge relief. Unfortunately the jaundice he developed over the weekend was looking just a bit worrisome. The nurse suggested having him looked at by the pediatrician. Ugh. I knew she was going to want labs drawn and I really just wished we could do it all in one shot. Nope. We went back down to the lab and they did the PKU draw and we went home.

We were home long enough for him to have some visitors, who brought him some great treats by the way, and have a quick lunch before we were back out the door on our way to the docs office. Just as I suspected she wanted lab work done. There's a different lab right across the street from the office so we just walked over and they saw him right away. Poor guy was not happy and he was sure to make himself very heard.

The doc called this evening and she is fairly sure he has breast milk jaundice. The cure=24hrs without breast milk. I was disappointed, worried and anxious. It freaks me out to think he won't transition back and forth. The King calmed me down and bought me a new pump. I had no problem using it and that relaxed me some. I was even more relaxed when Buster had no problem with his first bottle. It's only a day and I just keep telling myself that. The sad thing is after such an exhausting day, now I have to pump every 2 hrs ALL NIGHT LONG plus make him bottles. Yikes. This newborn stuff is hard work, but it is so worth it!

One Week

I think he's already changed a little really. He's filling out. He eats every 2hrs pretty much around the clock. Last night he had his longest stretch ever and it was like 2 hrs 5 minutes :) He's a very content baby and only cries during bath time or when I'm not front and center at feeding time. The girls are loving snuggling with their new little brother. Tea was even upset today when she asked when I would be having another new baby and I told her he would be the last. He seems very content with them as well.

Last night we put him on the floor for some tummy time and he didn't fuss at all. In fact, eventually he just fell asleep. It seems like he's been here a lot longer than a week. We're looking forward to all the time that is to come.

Ouch!

One thing I did not anticipate with having a 5th child were the after pains. Holy Moly, there are times when I am certain I am going to give birth to his twin. I looked it up on the internet to see if there was anything I could do for relief and the recommendation was Lamaze breathing. What?? Cramps you have to breathe through just don't sound right. I'm taking Motrin and it takes the edge off. I can't really take anything stronger because I am breastfeeding. I'm hoping they're about done at this point, but today was by far the worst.


I'm also getting pretty tired. He is a great sleeper, but up about ever 1-2hrs all night long nursing. This is a good thing really, it's just hard to go on that little of sleep. I've never been a great napper and it almost always makes me feel more groggy. The bright side is I love taking care of him at night. It's so quiet and I can just soak him up. He's a little dream!

Sisters

It is so nice to have so many little helpers around. He sure gets to be held a lot!

Visitors

This weekend the baby has had his first out of town visitors. G'Pa and G'Ma came from Grand Junction to see the new little man and his sisters. We have enjoyed the visit and I'm so glad they got to come so soon!

3 Days Old

I can't believe he's actually here. More than any other time this all feels like a dream. The pregnancy went so fast and then really so did the end. We're enjoying the heck out of him though. Chiggie is officially on Spring Break for the next 10 days and we're all looking forward to just hanging out.