How We Spend Our Days

 Our days are pretty much the same, we've almost developed a routine. Mostly we sleep,

then eat,

then sleep some more.

Oh how I love this newborn phase! He is a great sleeper as long as he's being held or nursed but of course neither of these positions allow me to get much done. I try putting him down but this usually results in a much shorter nap and a very crabby baby. Like right now when I was able to get one post loaded and posted before he woke up, so now I'm typing with one hand while he sleeps on my shoulder. 

He is quite possibly the noisiest sleeper I've ever heard. He laughs, grunts, snores, squeals, cries and gags in his sleep. The last two are loud enough to wake me from a dead sleep to make sure he's OK. I thought babies sleep was supposed to be peaceful?

I actually have been snuggling this little guy as much as possible (as shown in my lack of blogging) since I know all too well how quickly he will grow out of his cuddly, squishy newborn-ness. So even though I have at least 4 more posts worth of pictures and updates, I'm off to cuddle. :)

What's in a Name?

As many of you know we really struggled to come up with a name for this little guy. Pat and I were on completely different pages from the beginning and so we kept pushing it off, hoping that something would come to us when we met him.

It didn't...we still couldn't agree on anything. Pat wanted names like Kyle, Tyler, and Brooks and I wanted Elias, Elliott or Graham.

This un named child became quite the heated subject when my family came to visit and Pat convinced all of them that his name was Gus, they all loved it...I did not. We were also getting texts, phone calls, and Facebook posts full of good but not perfect ideas. It was all getting kind of overwhelming, especially with the deadline approaching to fill our the birth certificate. So we finally narrowed it down to 2 options: Elias Matthew or Miles Alexander.

Miles was in the running when Nolan was born but for some reason hadn't added it to the list this time. We both liked it though, we just had to decide if it fit him. So we slept on it and that night I had a dream about a teen aged Elias who was wimpy and sickly looking. I'm not saying Elias is a wimpy name as I still really like it but I couldn't get that image out of my mind so I agreed that Miles was the way to go. Pat was happy too.

The final decision was made when we gave Nolan the options we were considering. He could say Miles clear as day but Elias he had a hard time. It came out sounding kind of like E-I.

So he was named Miles and it fits him well. Here are a few outtakes from our name announcement since I can't have a post without photos.

Miles Misc.

First time outside!

YAWN!

First photo with his eyes open.

Guess who dressed him this day?

The hand chewing begins!

He makes this face right before he eats. It cracks me up every time.

Getting a little sun through our window.

It's hard to see, but my boy has curls!!

Grandmas

My mom working her magic on Miles in his first 24 hours. 

He was out!

Gigi, or Granny Great (my grandma) meeting Miles.

Pat's Mom cuddling Miles,

and chatting with Nolan.

I love that picture! I wish I could remember what Nolan was so excited about telling his grandma.

Brothers

The day after Miles was born, my mom brought Nolan back home to meet his brother.

He wasn't overly impressed. This was as close as we could get them together.

He actually thought this was his cousin Dutch since the last time he saw him he was about this size. It wasn't until my sister and family came down that Nolan realized that this was another baby, one that was going to stay with us. 

We had a little regression both in the "I'm the baby!" department and the potty training but all has been corrected.

He has since come a long way and now wants to hold Miles all the time. 

Nolan loves to push him in the swing, turn on the music and birds mobile above him and help with diaper changes. We have the occasional requests to put miles down so we can play on the floor with him but he doesn't seem too disappointed when I tell him I have to finish feeding him first. He especially loves to guess why Miles is crying. He's usually right in guessing "he's hungry?" cause all that boy does is eat. 

Miles' Birth Story

I have a feeling this will be a very wordy post, but I wanted to be sure to document Miles' birth story before the details get blurry. I guess I will start off with that what most people ask us. Yes, Miles was born at home, yes we planned it that way. He was born in the middle of our living room in a birth tub. During labor, I never felt like I couldn't handle it (although I asked many times "how much longer?") and I never once asked for medication or an intervention...probably because I knew that I couldn't get anything. Even though this labor ended up being longer, harder and more intense then Nolan's I wouldn't change my decision to have him at home. 

The tub set up in our living room, Cortez was supervising.

We actually didn't even know if we could have him at home for a while. You must be healthy and have a normal pregnancy in order to attempt it and I was having issues with the placement of my placenta...again! Yes, I had placenta previa in 2 out of 2 of my pregnancies, something that I'm told it quite rare. They kept saying it SHOULD clear itself up but we will have to wait it out. Now if you know me, you know I'm a planner so this whole wait and see philosophy doesn't sit well with me. I was very close to calling it quits and signing up at the hospital just so I knew with certainty what would happen. I'm so glad I didn't though, we were given the go ahead at 37 weeks.

Fast forward to 40 weeks and I'm showing zero signs of labor. My midwife checked me and sure enough I wasn't even slightly dilated or effaced. We waited 1 week, checked again...still no progress. At this point there wasn't a whole lot of concern but I knew the clock was ticking as home births can only happen between 37-42 weeks. I called the midwife a day after my 41 week appointment and said, I'm ready to get this started what do I need to do? They gave me a list of supplements to help prepare my cervix and body for labor and said come in the next day to be checked. Operation: Get Out! was underway.

I took all the supplements as instructed and went to bed with a few contractions. At 6am I was woken up with strong, regular contractions. They weren't super intense, I could talk through them no problem so as Pat got ready for work I started timing them. By the time Pat was ready to go in I told him he might stick around for a while as they were coming 5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute. I called the midwife who was attending another birth and she suggested I rest and she would come as soon as she was done to come check me out. I called my mom who was going to be taking care of Nolan while we labored and told her to head on up since she would be battling commuter traffic. Nolan woke up and we had breakfast together, watched cartoons and waited for Yaya. I panicked a little as my contractions started to dwindle. My midwife later told me that this is common when older kids are around as your body will shut down the labor process to care for the older sibling...fascinating!

One last belly shot before Nolan and Yaya hit the road.

When Yaya arrived, Pat and I took a walk around the neighborhood to try to jump start things again. At this point the contractions were 8-10 minutes apart and only lasting 30-45 seconds. I was sure this was false labor and it would stop at any second but I sent my mom and Nolan back to her house so we could get some rest just in case it was the real deal. This was around noon.

At 4:00pm the contractions were still 7-8 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute but they were getting much more intense. I started to feel anxious at the peak of the contractions, like I was crawling out of my skin.  I called the midwife, who was still at the other delivery. She didn't think I was in active labor yet (neither did I) since my contractions were still so far apart but sent a backup midwife to come check my vitals and help with pain management.

The midwife, Christine arrived and sat with me for a bit, checked my vitals and timed my contractions. She offered to check me to see if I was dilating and I accepted. To all our surprise she said, "Oh I'm not going anywhere, you're 7cm!" I was relieved as this meant I was definitely in labor and it would be over soon. She set up all her gear, Pat blew up the tub and I continued to work through the contractions.

A few more hours passed and right at the peak of a long contraction, my midwife and the assistant walked in. By this point I was wanting to get in the water but they said it could cause things to slow down so they encouraged me to stay on my feet as much as I could. I learned quickly that those long lovely breaks only happened when I was sitting. Standing up I could only make it a few steps before another contraction would hit and take my breath away. I held Pat's hand as we walked back and forth through the house, around the back yard and even through a shower. I think Pat will have a permanent imprint of my hand in his hand from my squeezing. After the shower I was definitely ready to get in the tub so I jumped in surrounded by my 2 midwives knitting and the assistant monitoring the baby's heart every few contractions. It was so peaceful, despite the intensity of the contractions. When they were over we would chat and and tell stories and when one would hit they would all be quiet as I worked through it.

I was really impressed that the midwives knew exactly when to kick things into gear. I was pretty vocal through the contractions and when my voice dropped low I saw them jump to their feet to grab gloves. I knew we were really close then. Sure enough with the next contraction I was feeling very 'pushy' as they say. I won't lie, pushing was really hard. With Nolan it was a relief to be able to push and was rather painless. This time it felt pretty bad, there was some crying and a lot of screaming. Mavis and Cortez who were by my side most of the day were a little on edge at this point and Mavis even started howling through the contractions with me. Between contractions I asked Pat to close all the windows as I was worried that the neighbors would call the cops. The midwives said it wouldn't be the first time the cops showed up which I thought was pretty funny. Luckily, we didn't have any police stopping by that night.

We discovered later that the reason I was feeling so much pain this time around is that although he had been in perfect position up until now, for some reason he had flipped at the last minute into a sunny side up presentation which is less then ideal. I pushed through the pain and in 20 minutes of pushing, he was out. I actually thought I was done as soon as his head was out as the pain was immediately gone. One more little push and he was on my chest. It was 9:51pm, almost 14 hours after labor started.

Immediately after he was born, note how small the "newborn" hat is on his head.

The first thing I noticed was how big and pink he was, and then I saw his rolls on his arms. "He's so chubby!" I never imagined that I would have a rolly polly baby but here he was resting on my chest. I thanked him for finally coming out and double checked that he was still a boy.

I started bleeding a little heavier then they wanted to see so they gave me a shot of pitocin to stop the bleeding and help me deliver the placenta. They cut the cord (which sprayed all over the blinds and wall when it was cut) they handed Miles' to Pat while they helped move me. The bleeding still wasn't stopping the way they wanted it so I was given more medicine to make sure it stopped. Luckily that worked but I was feeling pretty weak from the blood loss. They helped me into bed and left us to cuddle and bond with our baby before coming back to check his vitals. We of course spent this time calling family and posting this pic on facebook.

First photo after he was all cleaned up.

We were all convinced he was a 10 pound baby. He was close, but not quite at 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21.25 inches long. His head was 14.5 inches around which they said was the biggest head they have delivered all year. I was pretty proud of myself and of my healthy little guy. Miles checked out great and I was put on bed rest for a bit but I didn't mind, all I wanted to do was sit and cuddle him.

Midwife Traci weighing Miles

Measuring his head, they checked it twice to make sure they had it right.

The things I loved most about this labor was how clearly I remember everything. With Nolan I was given an Ambien to insure that I got some sleep before my induction the next day. I don't know if I was still in an Ambien daze or if I was in a state of shock but I cannot remember anything about that first day. Even immediately following the delivery, I was having a hard time recalling things like his first bath, the fact that he was circumcised and that my mom and granny came to visit. This time I can recall everything.  

I loved how hands off everything was, the only time I was monitored was when I got in the tub and only when I was contracting. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted to be comfortable and as a result I'm left with a very peaceful memory of my delivery. Even with all the screaming (which my WASPy side is still somewhat humiliated about)...it really did help me feel better so I'm thankful that I was able to find that relief.

The morning after.

Killing Time

Before I get into all the details about Miles' birth and photo bomb you with newborn cuteness I have to back up to what we were up to before he arrived. Killing Time is a fitting title as I was really starting to lose it toward the end there and felt like I was being held prisoner in my own body. As the days passed, my ability to do things dwindled. This was my usual position, reading books to Nolan, watching tv and napping. 

I was feeling really anxious about taking Nolan out of the house on my own, fearing that I would go into labor and not be able to get home in time. Thank goodness for weekends! When Pat was home I could be brave and venture out for some family activities. We went to the park down the street from our house quite a bit.

Nolan got a big brother bike from Yaya. He's still pretty hesitant to try it out but talks about it all the time.

And to make up for my lack of adventure during the week I would bribe Nolan with super special outings to places like the cupcake shop and Menchies. This day was extra special though as we were celebrating a potty training success...pooping in the potty! It hasn't happened since so I think it was a fluke.

Nolan was incredibly patient with me despite my total lack of parenting/guidance/entertainment the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy. He was really a trooper about accommodating me and my ever changing hormonal moods. But I will cherish all the extra cuddles we shared those last few weeks and always be grateful that he showed me mercy.