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.