easy labor...not so easy postpardum

yeah...I haven't blogged forever


So, I never did write about labor and delivery. It was ideal. Seriously.


On Sunday, April 22nd, I started having back pain...but no contractions. I was so uncomfortable that I told the girl I was visiting teaching that I thought I was in labor. She let me borrow her labor ball to ease the discomfort. So, I went home and sat on that ball until church started at 12:30pm. I made it through a few minutes of church and then came home to rest/call the Dr. 


The Dr. told me to come in and they would check me. So, I waited for Aaron & Michael to come home from church while I packed my bag, called my mom to come get Michael, and read my scriptures. When Aaron came home from church we drove to the hospital and walked right in (around 4:15pm). I felt pretty silly because I didn't look/feel like I was in labor. They checked me and I was only a 2.5. An hour later (and what seemed like NO contractions later) the nurse said I was a 4. They were being generous. 


I was six hours from being 39 weeks away (when they normally induce), but the Dr. kindly said they could just go ahead and start me. I was thrilled! I asked for the epidural right then, and then I was started on pitocin. Around 10:00pm the Dr. came in and broke my water. Around 11:00pm I started to feel the contractions (no pain though) through the epidural. They checked me at 11:30ish and I was ready to go. However, the Dr. had gone to Timpanogos, so they called in the on-call Dr. He arrived around 11:45 and said, "Do you want to have this baby on the 22nd or 23rd?" I didn't care. I pushed three times and Thomas was born at 12:06pm on the 23rd.

I could have pushed the red "Easy" button that says, "That was easy."


Easy.



Then came postpardum. Oh boy!




I forgot how HARD new babies are, or maybe how HARD healing up from having a baby is!


The past two months have been a bit CRAZY! Here is a little of what we experienced:


- one crazy toddler trying to attack his little brother with love
- mastisis (did it ever go away?)
- trouble with feeding
- circumcision (Thomas was an angel through it, thanks to that sugar water!)
- night sweats (for some 40 nights!)
- busy husband (internship and studying for the CPA exam)
- crazy toddler trying to attack his little brother with love...and strawberries (story to come soon)
- pumping full time and making enough milk for twins. seriously, folks! 
- emotional roller coaster going between nursing and pumping
- no sleep
- too much pain and lots of percocet and ibuprofen
- what I thought was a clogged duct...actually an abscess (looked more like a tumor!)
- surgery
- stopping breastfeeding cold turkey
- no more "baby will suck off the baby fat" :(
- not healing up very well down under
- Thomas got a yeast infection and then croup
- we packed up our apartment
- moved in with my folks for a few weeks
- Aaron went to Connecticut with his dad to drop off the car and unpack the apartment
- dentist appointments, eye appointments, and dr's appointments up the wazoo

sounds kind of ugly. I know.

But guess what?

WE SURVIVED!

Thanks to prayers, help, blessings, and angels!

There is good news!

• Aaron passed the first of the CPA exams (there are four)!
• Thomas is healthy and sleeps from around 11-6!!!
• I'm healthy and all healed up...FINALLY! (here we are at almost 10 weeks?!)
• I can finally exercise again!
• Michael is healthy...and still a crazy toddler who attacks Thomas non-stop (I can't leave them alone for one-second!)
• Apartment in Connecticut is unpacked and ready for us to arrive!!
• Hiram & Cebre are getting married next week in Oakland!!!
• We'll be in Connecticut before you know it, starting our next adventure!!

LIFE IS GOOD!

We have learned and grown a lot the past two months...new babies will do that to you!

And someday I'll post pictures (all my pictures are on the computer...and the computer is in CT).

That's the update on the past two months. All is well. Like Aaron's dad has often said, "Things will work out." And they have.


I am so grateful to have another baby. What a gift and miracle. I have felt the hand of the Lord blessing me and walking me through this difficult time. I know that angels are real and that God is watching over us.