She's here!

Heidis due date of October 19th came and went. A few days later, we escaped Will  and Heidi sharing a birthday. The next morning though, I woke up at 2:30am to contractions 2-3mins apart. So I must have slept through a good bit of them! I woke Billy up and he was a bit panicked because the contractions were so close together, but we both managed a quick shower and made it to the hospital by 3:30.  My midwife arrived a bit later and broke my water.  I was so excited to already be at 7cm, but a few hours later, I had barely progressed.  I asked for something to take the edge off, and they gave me Nubian.  It made me so sleepy, but gave me a break from the intensity for about 30mins.  After it wore off, I decided I wanted the epidural, but it was too late and time to push. Ultimately it was what I wanted, but was so scared!!!  I think I only pushed for 10 minutes, but I don't want to ever forget that pain and think it was no big deal! I remember saying that I didn't want to do it anymore.  Billy and the midwife basically told me, "too bad!"

She came out screaming at 8:13 and with the cord wrapped around her ankle.  We couldn't believe she was more than 9lbs!  My mom and Will came to visit us about and hour later.  Will didn't care. And just wanted to eat crackers.  Ha!  But since then, Heidi has been such a great baby and Will has been adjusting.

Heidi rarely cries loudly(unless I give her a bath) and is a pretty good eater/sleeper.  She was back to her birth weight after 4 days and has given me close to 4 hour stretches of sleep at night.  I think having low expectations of a newborn, not having a pounding epidural headache and knowing a bit more about what I'm doing with nursing has made everything easier this time.  The only bump is Will's adjustment.  He wants to get in her swing, rock her a little too hard, and has spots of jealousy.  But, he's 2 and I don't think I can expect anything much different. Yesterday was my first day home alone with both of them all day and we survived.  The worst part was post-naps when they both had dirty diapers and we somehow got it in Heidi's hair.  Then of course, they were both hungry.  It was almost 80 degrees, so it was easy to play with Will in the backyard and keep Heidi inside where I could see her.  Today, I was able to get the three of us out of the house to take Will to school.  So far, so good!

Will is two!

Two years old! And he's going to be a big brother any day. We think back to two years ago...late at night, we finally agreed to go to the hospital during halftime of a Steelers vs. Bengals game.  Of course, since we were in Pittsburgh, we got to finish watching the game in the waiting roommate then the triage room.  After the win, Billy then started giving the birth of our first child his full attention. ;)

Sixteen hours later, our boy was born! Our life hasn't been the same since.  Not even close.  We keep wondering what we did with all our free time before Will!  I've been saying it for two years, but he really gets more fun all the time. 

He is now adjusted to being dropped off at school and knows that I will come get him each time.  It also makes the child watch rooms for MOPS and Bible Study easier.  He talks to his little friends, even if they don't talk back yet.  Most afternoons, we meet the same friend at the park, and they have a little routine of trading snacks, fighting over a ball and chasing each other.

Some things I want to remember about Will being two:

-A few weeks ago, he asked for ice cream for breakfast.  Obviously I said no.  A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom and found he had opened the freezer and was helping himself to an ice cream sandwich.

-I have a problem with not closing cabinet doors.  Billy has trained him to say "Close door, Mommy!" when he sees an open cabinet.

-He still loves puzzles, and can sit with 5 around him and put them all together at once.

-He is finally drinking water again!

-HUGE breakthrough with sleep.  I read on a local message board that some toddlers drink a bit of tart cherry juice before bed and it helps with their melatonin levels.  I made this juice into a popscicle and lo and behold, Will has been sleeping all night for more than 2 weeks.  This has never happened! Maybe a coincidence, but I will keep buying these $7 bottles of juice for now!

-He likes to share his snacks and food.

-His favorite toys are Little People, stickers and his kitchen/play food.

38 weeks

Almost to the end! I finally feel pretty ready for what's ahead.  Mom gets here in a week and the nursery is pretty much complete.  Her glider that I ordered from Target took over a month to get here!  My midwife and the OB that I see will be at a conference in Grand Cayman the 14th-19th, so it's likely I'll end up with another OB from the practice, but that should be fine.  Some timing though!

The acid reflux is in full force now, which isn't so bad, because I had it much longer with Will.  Overall, I just feel huge and uncomfortable, which is par for the course.  Only a few tops fit me now, so my friends see me wear the same outfits over and over.  Speaking of friends, they pulled together an awesome breakfast to celebrate Baby Heidi a few weeks ago - and planned it while Will was in school.  I was really in awe, not really realizing I had met so many great friends in our nearly two years here.  

Another funny comment from a family with 3 kids at church: "We're not sure if things really fell apart after the second kid, or third."  Haha.  Again, so encouraging.  I imagine it will be crazy for a while, trying to wrangle Will for diaper changes, feeding Heidi and just getting out of the door some mornings.  But pretty much everyone figures it out, right?