Updating Part 1

Those first few weeks after having Vinny were a mixture of joy and sadness. Paul was able to take a week off, but he still worked from home on his laptop sometimes. Paul had been working 16 hr days, 6 days a week so with this time off, he deserved to have as much down time as possible. However, with my infection, it was very hard for me to do everything so unfortunately he had to pitch in a bit here and there.

At least he got some snuggles.

I felt like a zombie. When Vinny got his nights and days figured out, I still woke him up every 2 to 3 hours to feed him so that he would gain back his birthweight. Well, I caused the habit and once he had gained the weight back (and more), he still woke up every 2 hours during the night. 

I can't remember what happened between the first few nights and the first few weeks, but we started co-sleeping. That was the only way I was getting any sleep so I gave in.

It got to the point when the only way Vinny would sleep well was if he was on someone, A.K.A. me.

This is how we would sleep every night. It went on for a good month and a half before I tried swaddling him as tightly as I could. That worked (thank you to a mom from my alma mater who advised me to try swaddling him again and tighter) and to this day (6months) he is still swaddled most of the night.

I, honestly, don't remember being this exhausted when we welcomed Agnes into the world. I probably was, but I blocked it out. I had little to no sleep AND I had a toddler that needed to get her energy out. So maybe I wasn't as tired with Agnes since I was able to nap every single time she napped. Thank God for the times I was able to rest because of Mimi. The family even took Agnes for a couple of weekends here and there to give me some time to rest and recuperate.

She has so much energy! I love it!

At 11 days old, I brought Vinny and went with Agnes and Mimi to the fountain park. It was nice to get some sun... but it was hot. 

 

The next few weeks, I would brave the pool, park, fountain park, library, grocery stores, etc. I did well considering I was going on a total of about 3-4 hours of sleep. I still can't believe I survived... and am still surviving because Vincent is still in our bed and still waking a good 3 to 4 times a night to nurse.

Agnes welcomed Vincent into the family right away. It was a beautiful meeting and ever since that moment she has asked about him if he isn't in the room when she wakes up every morning or from her afternoon nap. There are times when she doesn't like her toys being eaten but we sort things out and she is willing to share after a while.

Back to Life!

It's been quite a while since I've last posted and saying I have missed documenting our life here in middle America is a huge understatement; however, I also have also been feeling like my life has been chaotic these past 6 months. Having a new member join the family is quite stressful and time consuming. My schedule is based around sleeping and eating. I think we are just starting to get the hang of things around here... well, I hope we are.

Agnes has been a wonderful big sister. She is still a handful, needing to have an eye kept on her most of the time, but she is also pretty independent as well. We are in the thick of the "terrible twos" so every day seems like a struggle to get through, but every night I always peek into her room before I go to bed and I can't help but miss her being awake. I have to confess that we have had TV days where movies and programs (some educational... some just Sofia the First and Disney princesses) were the babysitters while I stayed on the couch nursing and falling asleep with the baby, but things have started to level out now.

I missed some pretty important events so I will post about those individually and we will catch up!

FIRST!

We had a baby July 17th, 2015 at 3:14pm. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 1.5oz., Vincent Edward was 20 inches long and an expert nurser within the first 30 minutes.

It took us until the next day to decide on his name, just like it did with Agnes. We were both discharged from the hospital the next evening and that is when the fun began.

Just like with Agnes, I barely got any sleep. Those first few nights were very tough, but what made it even worse was an infection that I didn't realize I had. My water had most likely broken before noon on the 16th and with the doctors checking the baby's progress so many times within that time before he was born, there could have been little doubt that a uterine infection would follow.

I think the nurses thought I had some kind of addiction because I was in pain the whole hospital stay (the medication for the pain was not strong enough) and I was asking for pain relievers (or when the next time I could take them was going to be) every time they came in.

When we brought Agnes home from the hospital, I carried her car seat up the three flights of stairs. When we brought Vincent home, I could barely get myself up the steps. I remember Paul telling his sister, who was with us on our ride home (along with Agnes), that I would take the baby up and he would get the suitcase. I immediately responded with, "Uh, no, I can't do that."

I was bent over in agony... and I honestly thought that that was how I was supposed to feel because it was my second child and my uterus took extra energy to contract down to its previous size. It made sense to me.

At Vincent's first doctor's visit, Dr. Kate asked if she could check me (because it worried her that I was asking for more pain medications... usually it subsides by that time). I said no, that it would go away soon.

A couple of nights later, I was taking a shower and I suddenly felt the worst chills. It didn't matter how hot the water was, I was shivering and shaking. I got out and could barely stand. I dried off, put pajamas on, and immediately got into bed. I couldn't talk that well since the chills were unbearable. Paul had to text Dr. Kate. At that point, I had no fever. Paul checked on me as the night wore on and it got to 103. The fever broke sometime during the night and I texted Dr. Kate in the morning. She made an appointment for her to see me that day and sure enough, it was a uterine infection.  

By the end of that day I had relief. Mimi came that morning to take Maria back home. Maria had been the one to help us with Agnes while I was at the hospital. Paul drove back and forth a lot (only a 10 minute drive) to make sure all was well.

Mimi came for a week to help me, as well. It has been a blessing living close to family. I have no idea how we would've done any of this without their help and support.