I have a moment. And I feel pretty good. And my baby is sleeping. And my little girl is playing nicely. I have a moment :).
It's been 2 weeks since little Caleb joined our little family. He has been a happy baby, and despite the frequent feedings, we have been managing to get a little bit of sleep, enough to function and have the ability to know whether we are coming or going. Camia came home almost a week ago, last Sunday night, and though sometimes it's been a challenge, she has been a great helper. We have already noticed thateven though she doesn't say as much, she already tries to fight for our attention. And it's not always in the positive way. She is wanting us to feed her, or carry her, or is suddenly unable to do things that before she was, like bedtime. She comes out more frequently and has forgotten how to tuck herself back into bed. I am hoping that this is short term and things will smooth out a bit more as time goes on and Caleb gets older and doesn't need to be fed every hour during the day.
Caleb does wonderful at night, sleeping 4-5 hour stretches, which leaves me feeling like I have a bit of energy, even if it means going to bed at 9 or 10 to catch some z's before his next feeding. Usually he is down by 12:30-1, sleeps till 4-ish, feeds for 20 minutes and then is down again until 8, or whenever Camia graces us with her presence. This time I am also grateful that so far nursing has been going great. In his first week we supplemented once or twice a day, just so he would not feed every half hour, leaving me exhausted and drained - literally. We haven't used formula in about a week now. I don't think I am producing whipped cream, though, because it takes a bit for him to get a good feed to last him enough to get a good sleep. He is awake a good portion of the day, taking about 30 minute cat naps a few times. Even though he is only 2 weeks old, he seems to like crashing at around 2 ish and sleeping until around 6, which is perfect for meal times - if we're on time :)
Another huge blessing is that we have been swamped with meals from our church and friends. To the point where I have started saying no thanks, since our fridge and both our freezers are overflowing. For me this is huge, since when we had Camia that support was not there, and I remember feeling diappointed since we had just had a new baby and we were newer members at our church. Since then I started making meals for new Mom's, because it was the one thing I would have loved when I had a new baby. It is different to be on the receiving end, but it's been the greatest blessing for us at this time.
If there was anything worth remembering from Caleb's birth, it was that all his details are the same as Camia's, which I find neat. They were both 8.1, both 21 inches long. Both labours took 27 hours, and both were born on a Thursday. Camia was born at 7:26 in the morning and Caleb was born at 7:06 at night. Their dates are almost the same, Camia was born on the 5th, Caleb the 6th, even if they were different months (June and September). The biggest difference was that Caleb decided to be different in that he decided to be born via c-section after 27 hours of labour. He made a statement by being in the 0.2% of births and be face-presenting. My midwife has delivered 100's of babies and she had never seen this before. I told her that Caleb didn't want to be forgotten. She will always remember us. :)
The last 2 weeks have been a bit of a challenge for me in that while I am normally a very independent person, I have had to rely on others for everything. I was pretty much imobile the first week, the pain was quite bad. Tylenol didn't relieve the pain, just made it tolerable. I was afraid to leave the hospital because if my stitches tore I was right there where someone could help me. If I got infection, I could have the help I needed there. On the other hand, I was done being in the hospital. The bed was way too uncomfortable. I wanted to be home to settle into routine, and be home with my little family. In the end, Camia ended up staying with my mom for over a week because I didn't have the strength or energy to have her home. I didn't feel too bad because I knew that she was having loads of fun and my mom was enjoying it just as much, if not more than Camia was. It worked out well when she came home, because Ryan went to work again the next day, so I still had a helper, which she has been very good at. There were a couple times where I fell apart, the first being a little more than 24 hours after Caleb's birth. I had no time to mentally prepare myself for c-section since a half hour after I was told I went under the knife. I was upset that it ended in c-section, it was the last thing I wanted. I was upset that I was suddenly immobil. I was upset that I couldn't change my baby's diaper or give him a bath or get things for myself. I was upset that I needed assistance to visit the restroom. To take a shower. To get dressed. I had a great nurse, though, who basically forced me out of bed on Friday night. She made me get up, made me visit the restroom, made me take a shower and made me do it by myself besides setting out towels, my shampoo, soap and clothes.
All in all, we have been blessed again and again, and are thankful for the communion of saints and a strong connection between friends and family. Even though it did not end in the way we had hoped or expected, we are thankful to God that there is technology that our son could be born after a natural birth was deemed impossible. We are especially thankful to God that Caleb is healthy and suffered no trauma and was not affected by the way he was born. And we are thankful that so far my healing has been going smoothly and infection-free.
The best part about having a newborn so far is the cheeky grins we get from him and the silent giggles he has while dreaming.
